Connecticut Agricultural College, a History

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CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE A HISTORY

By WALTER STEMMONS College Editor

research in collaboration with ANDRE SCHENKER

Instructor in History

WITH A FOREWORD BY RALPH HENRY GABRIEL Professor of History Yale University

STORRS, CONNECTICUT

J93 1 Copyright, 1931, by Connecticut Agricultural College

Printed in the United States of America

The Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor Company New Haven, Connecticut TO CHARLES LEWIS BEACH President Emeritus

TO WHOSE VISION AND LEADERSHIP THE COLLEGE OF TO-DAY

OWES ITS PLACE IN THE LIFE OF CONNECTICUT

FOREWORD IN 1931 the Connecticut Agricultural College passes into its second half century. The anniversary naturally turns the minds of its friends to events and ambitions of other days. It also gives to the citizens of the Commonwealth an opportunity to evaluate the work and the significance of the institution they have created and set in the beautiful Mansfield hills. For such an appraisal Mr. Stemmons's thoughtful book is a useful aid. Painstaking investigation has recovered many a lost episode and has disclosed the complex influences which called the institution into being and shaped its development during the formative years. The book presents an interesting chapter in the history of public higher education in the United States.

Storrs is a product of one of the most significant American educational developments of the nineteenth century. It is also an outgrowth of the life of Connecticut. Its formal history covers fifty years but the forces which created it began to operate more than a century ago. The early years of the last century found the people of Connecticut throwing dams across their brooks and rivers so that waterwheels might turn the crude machinery of new factories. The sons of the State believed in progress. They vaguely understood that they were creating a new era. But the clattering factories in the valleys were small and few. The men of early nineteenth century Connecticut still lived in an agricultural age and looked upon agriculture as the basic and the most important industry of the nation. Side by side with the development of manufacturing, therefore, went the movement to improve the methods of husbandry.

But the thought of early nineteenth century Connecticut rose above the level of material things. Some of these fore- fathers of ours a century ago visioned a new moral order. They strove to set men free, not only from the legal bonds of the institution of slavery, but from the bondage of vice, of physical and mental disease, and of ignorance. Nowhere was FOREWORD the American humanitarian movement of the first half of the nineteenth century more important in the lives of people than in Connecticut.

A blend of idealism and of Yankee practicality, therefore, lay behind those forerunners of the Connecticut Agricultural College, the Derby Academy, the Cornwall Mission School, and the Cream Hill School. These institutions were private ventures. Useful as they were, they proved inadequate to meet the needs of the State. In the latter years of the century Connecticut took up the task which they had laid down and pledged its resources to carrying forward the important work of improving husbandry and of giving the sons and daughters of rural communities an appropriate education. Nineteen years before the Commonwealth established the Connecticut Agricultural College the American people, after a long struggle, formulated in the Morrill Act of 1862 an educational policy of great significance for the nation. The American Republic wrote into the law of the land the principle that the state, by means of institutions supported by taxation, should hold open the door of opportunity in higher education to all persons who desire and are qualified to take advantage of the privilege. The Morrill Act is a charter of liberty, guaranteeing democracy in American higher education.

It was no accident that Connecticut was among the first of the states to unite with the Federal Government in carrying out the purposes of the Morrill Act. The law made possible the further development of that movement toward better farming in which Connecticut people had been interested for many years. It was in harmony with the ideals which were influencing Connecticut thought.

The State, accepting the federal grant, added it to the funds of the Sheffield Scientific School at Yale. For thirty years Yale served Connecticut as a land grant college, while at the same time developing swiftly as a private university. After a period of thorough trial the State decided that the purposes of the Commonwealth would be best served by a separate agricultural school wholly supported and controlled by Connecticut citizens. The years which have elapsed since this decision FOREWORD have seen a struggling school grow into a vigorous and significant college.

The first fifty years of the life of Storrs have also seen commerce and manufacturing transform Connecticut. The rural village, whose houses cluster about a Georgian or a Greek-revival church, still remains to remind the twentieth century man of an age in which agriculture was the calling of a majority of the people. Connecticut farming, moreover, after a process of adjustment to soils, markets, competition and other factors, continues to be one of the soundest and most important industries of the State. But Connecticut has become a highly urbanized area, its life dominated by the machine age. During its swift industrial advance, the Com- monwealth has supported steadily the agricultural college in the Mansfield hills. But it has not permitted in any formal way the broadening of the purpose or the curriculum of the institution in such a manner as to provide a type of education definitely adjusted to the problems of the non-rural population of the State.

The end of the first half century of Storrs history finds the people of Connecticut discussing the wisdom of extending to all citizens the principle of democracy in education inherent in the Morrill Act. Ralph Henry Gabriel.

PREFACE

WRITING histories has never been among my major ambitions. This one, contrary to precedents, has not been a labor of love but of necessity. A college editor, like the "noble Six Hundred," learns to do many queer things without stopping to reason why. In this case the order came from the Board of Trustees, and if it had been to paint a picture or dig a ditch instead of to write a history, there would have been no more inclination to question the authority. The history has been written in serious vein. No one will ever know what a handicap that has been. If histories told the truth they would not be so serious.

It is difficult to acknowledge the very vital help I have had from a number of persons without implicating others in the result. Professor Gabriel and his seminar class of 1929-30 in Yale supplied the coaching and the cheering section. President McCracken, with generous appreciation of the problems of an historian by fiat, contributed the final drive that got the book out on time. Miss Edwina Whitney, Miss Esther Dodge and Mr. Andre Schenker checked the manuscript. Mr. Schenker did much of the research for certain chapters. None of these persons is responsible for any split infinitives or misstatements that you may find in the book. Those are mine.

So it is, gentle reader, that I leave the book with you. It is as accurate as I have been able to make it, but if you find errors, please remember that no prizes are offered. In any event I trust that the experience will have made me more chari- tably inclined toward the authors of college bulletins, to whose manuscripts I must return after this strange interlude as an historian. Walter Stemmons.

Storrs, Conn., April, 1931.

CONTENTS

Page

Chapter I—An Adventure in Education 1

Chapter II—The Stone Age at Storrs 23

Chapter III—Yale-Storrs Controversy 58

Chapter IV—The Spectre of a "State University" . . 78

Chapter V—"The War of the Rebellion" 97

Chapter VI—Proving That It Pays to Advertise ... Ill Chapter VII—The March on Hartford 132

Chapter VIII—The College During the War 158

Chapter IX—Cultural or Agricultural? 169

Chapter X—Swapping Horses in Midstream 199

Chapter XI—The Fiftieth Year 205

Chapter XII—Research, the Cornerstone of Progress 211

Chapter XIII—The College Goes to the People 230

CHAPTER I V* V

AN ADVENTURE IN EDUCATION ON April 21, 193LL, the Connecticut Agricultural Col- lege entered its fifty-first year as a State institution. From humble beginnings it has grown steadily and has come to play no small part in the destinies of the State, Hundreds of students have felt its influence and thousands of citizens have been affected in some phase of their interests by its manifold activities. It is Connecticut's sole contribution as a commonwealth to the complicated American system of university and college education.

The first twelve years of the institution's history were as a small farm school. For thirty-eight years it has been a land grant college, supported jointly by the Federal and State governments, and as such has played a part in a national program of vocational education unique in the world's history.

To understand the history of the institution for the past fifty years and to grasp the significance of the conflicting views as to its purposes, its functions, and its ultimate destiny, one must know something of the influences that gave it birth, that shaped its growth, and that must presage its future.

The first part of the institution's history, that as a farm school, owes its origin to a movement for improved agriculture that dates in its empirical phases as far back as recorded time and in its scientific influences to the faithful work of investigators and educators of the past two hundred years. The second part, that as a land grant college, grew out of a movement for education of the masses that accompanied the rise of democracy in America which fol- bwed the Revolutionary War -and was influenced greatly 2 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

by the extension of the frontier. In the main, these broad, general movements, the older one concerned solely with the improvement of agriculture and the newer one chiefly with educational opportunities for the sons of farmers and mechanics, were not necessarily conflicting. It was chiefly in the struggle for dominance of aims between the exponents of these ideas that the long controversy developed over the nature and functions of institutions founded under the Land Grant Act of 1862. This controversy has not been peculiar to Connecticut—it has existed at one time or another and in one form or another in many of the states.

The Farm School Background

Since civilization began, improvement of agriculture has been one of the primary considerations of mankind. The literature of Greece and Rome affords ample proof of the importance attached in ancient times to the betterment of agricultural methods and conditions. Cato, especially, reveals the remarkable advancement in agriculture achieved by early civilizations by purely empirical methods. Even more ancient are the evidences of an amazing knowledge of flood control, irrigation, and land management that obtained in Mesopotamia, Egypt, China and other countries that early emerged from the primitive. While this remarkable progress probably had little direct bearing on the development of agricultural thought in America, the European progress of the seventeenth, eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries had a most vital and direct influence. Agricultural science received a tre- mendous impetus from France, and later from Germany. Agricultural education made a brave start in France, in Switzerland, in Hungary and in other European countries. It was from England, however, that America received most of its first inspiration for agricultural improvement. Out

/ AN ADVENTURE IN EDUCATION 3

of the agricultural revolution in England grew, largely, the movement in America. As early as 1650 Samuel Hartlib of England published a plan for an agricultural college under the title: "An Essay for Advancement of Husbandry-Learning; or prop- ositions for the Erecting Colledge of Husbandry; and, in order thereunto, for the taking in of Pupills and Appren- tices, And also Friends or Fellowes of the Same Colledge or Society." Jethro Tull published in London in 1730 his famous book "The Horse Hoeing Husbandry." Robert Bakewell led, about 1760, the remarkable movement in England for the improvement of breeds of livestock. John Sinclair and Arthur Young of England were the chief inspiration of Washington, Franklin and Jefferson in this

country, regarding all agricultural improvement. Jared Eliot of Connecticut was a pioneer west of the Atlantic in the movement for improved agriculture. His book entitled, "Essays upon Field Husbandry in New Eng- land as it is or may be Ordered," was published in Boston in 1760 and did much to stimulate interest in better agriculture. It is said that he was the first American to be elected a member of the Royal Society of London.

In the organization of farmers and public spirited citizens for the collection and dissemination of information on better farming, America took an active leadership. Ben- jamin Franklin organized at Philadelphia in March, 1785, the "Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture." An attempt had been made in New Jersey four years earlier to found such a society. The Philadelphia society became the progenitor of a system that was to spread throughout the country. Washington, Jefferson and Madison gave encouragement to these societies. In the course of time agricultural societies became numerous and powerful in their influence. They espoused the cause of national and state recognition of agriculture, urged experiments among 4 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE their members, launched agricultural fairs, and agitated for agricultural schools and experiment stations. Most of the movements for agricultural improvement and agricultural education in America in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries either originated in or were fostered by these agricultural societies. Early American ideas on agricultural education were transplanted from Europe. Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi of Switzerland, a disciple of Rousseau, was one of the pioneers in an educational system that spread throughout Europe in the eighteenth century and gained great headway in America during the first half of the nineteenth century. Using his own farm as a laboratory and his own children as students, he developed a more practical scheme of agricultural education than had existed previously. In 1775 he organized a school for poor children in which they were employed part time in raising farm products and in spin- ning and weaving cotton. Out of this and similar ventures grew the manual labor schools of Europe and America that were to exercise a profound influence on early efforts to teach agriculture.

While this school and numerous others in various countries of Europe had their effect on later developments here, there is no question that the direct influence in America in the manual labor and agricultural schools of the nineteenth century came from the efforts at Hofwyl, Switzerland, of Philip Emanuel von Fellenberg. The Fellenberg plan seems to have attracted more attention in this country than any of the numerous other European ventures. From 1806 until 1844 von Fellenberg conducted two schools, one for upper classes and one for peasants. The schools were located on a six hundred-acre farm and in addition to the instruction in agriculture there were maintained a printing press, and workshops for making clothing, agricultural implements and scientific instruments. Toward the close :

AN ADVENTURE IN EDUCATION S of the project a school for girls and a normal school were added. The following paragraph from A. C. True's A History of Agricultural Education in the United States, is significant of the manual labor school movement

It was hoped that the labor of both teachers and students on school farm and in workshops would make the institutions and the students partly or wholly self-supporting. Students of that day were very often dyspeptic from lack of physical exercise which the Fellenberg system would supply. It was also believed that manual labor associated with intellectual pursuits had a definite educational value.

In the first quarter of the nineteenth century manual labor schools made great headway in America. Perhaps the most famous of these schools and one frequently referred to as the first agricultural school in America, was the Gardiner Lyceum established at Gardiner, Me., in 1821 by Robert Hallowell Gardiner, a graduate of Har- vard in 1801. The school essayed to teach "mathematics, mechanics, navigation, and those branches of natural philosophy and chemistry which are calculated to make scientific farmers and skillful mechanics." Supplementing the efforts to interest state legislatures in schools for agricultural improvement there was a continuous movement between 1820 and 1860 to establish schools or colleges of agriculture by private benevolence or by stock subscription. The rise of the natural sciences, particularly chemistry and biology, was making itself felt in many colleges. As early as 1563 Bernard Palissy of France had undertaken experiments looking toward the solution of the mysteries of soil fertility. The search for this "principle" had been almost unremitting throughout Europe and had resulted in some startling theories and a few actual discoveries. In America, Priestley represented some of the earliest efforts in science applicable to agriculture. The work of Lavoisier and later of Boussingault gave France an imposing leadership in agricultural chemistry although soon after 1840 6 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE attention was to center on the experimental work of Liebig of Germany and Lawes and Gilbert of England. Liebig, especially, attracted attention in America.

In the established colleges the movement for agricultural instruction got under way soon after the middle of the eighteenth century and made marked advancement in the first quarter of the nineteenth century. Partly as a result of increased knowledge of chemistry and "natural philosophy," and partly due to the agitation of the early agricultural societies, several American colleges undertook to teach sciences related to husbandry. Columbia University, then known as Kings College, began to teach agriculture in 1754, nearly thirty years before the organization of agricultural societies. In 1792, backed by the newly- organized "New York Society for the Promotion of Agri- culture, Arts and Manufactures," the New York legislature granted funds to Columbia College for a professorship of "natural history, chemistry and agriculture." The Uni- versity of Pennsylvania has a claim hardly second to that of Columbia. Benjamin Franklin urged as early as 1749 a curriculum including agriculture for the Philadelphia Academy. The academy did not get under way until 1754 and then it undertook a course in the chemistry of agriculture designed by William Smith. Yale considered including agriculture "as a classical study" in 1789 but took no action until 1802 when Benjamin Silliman became professor of chemistry and natural history.

In 1824 Washington College (Trinity) at Hartford, announced courses in agriculture and military training and established a botanic garden. Harvard, backed by the Massachusetts Society for Promoting Agriculture, established a botanic garden and a professorship of natural history in 1804 and in 1842 was made the beneficiary of a bequest by Benjamin Bussey intended to foster a course in agriculture. Amherst offered lectures on agriculture AN ADVENTURE IN EDUCATION 7 in 1843 and various other colleges endeavored to make some use of the growing fund of scientific information relating to agriculture.

Perhaps the nearest prototype of the modern land grant college was The Rennselaer Institute at Troy, N. Y., founded in 1824 by Stephen Van Rennselaer, who undertook to combine agriculture, mechanic arts and domestic science, the three bulwarks of the modern land grant college. The analogy goes even farther. Even before starting his school, Van Rennselaer employed Amos Eaton, a graduate of Williams but who had later studied chemistry under Silliman and botany under Ives at Yale, to visit some 3,000 tenant farmers with much the same purpose as a modern county agent .

The earlier agricultural and manual labor schools and, in fact, the colleges that essayed to teach agriculture, were primarily concerned with increasing and disseminating knowledge in "scientific" farming. There was growing up, however, a movement for education of the masses, particularly of the sons of farmers and mechanics, in which general education was the principal goal and vocational education an incidental consideration.

In 1846, under the leadership of Freeman Grant Cary, there was established near Cincinnati, Ohio, the Farmers' College, intended to be primarily an agricultural college. It was founded by subscriptions of more than four hundred farmers and mechanics and was intended to be truly a school of the people. Benjamin Harrison, afterward President of the United States, was a student from 1848 to 1850. The school thrived until the Civil War and later an unsuccessful effort was made to have it declared the land grant college of Ohio. In 1853 New York State granted a charter to the People's College, an institution projected by Harrison Howard and promoted by the Mechanics Mutual Protec- 8 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

tion. This organization sought to finance the project by one dollar subscriptions from 100,000 mechanics. Horace

Greeley became interested in the project and gave it enthusiastic support, exacting the requirement, however, that agriculture should be included on a par with mechanic arts. Greeley wrote the first prospectus of the college. Although the institution led a precarious existence the agitation on its behalf did much to color the thinking of the period.

Three state agricultural colleges were in existence in

advance of the Land Grant Act. These were : Michigan Agricultural College, founded in 1855 and opened in 1857; Maryland Agricultural College, founded in 1856 and opened in 1859; and Pennsylvania State College, founded as The Farmers' High School in 1854 and the name changed to the Agricultural College of Pennsylvania in 1862.

/The Land Grant College Movement

Federal participation in education had its first distinguished champion in George Washington. In the Constitutional Convention of 1787, presided over by Washington, Charles Pinckney of South Carolina offered a plan for a Federal Constitution which included provisions for a national university to be established at the seat of government. When the Virginia plan was under consideration, Pinckney and Madison introduced a resolution to give Congress power to establish "an university." Washington, in his first message to Congress in 1790, suggested the desirability of a national university and in 1796 definitely recommended such an institution.

There is abundant evidence that Washington long had in mind the participation of the Federal Government in the cause of education. He also desired to establish an agricultural experiment station and a national department AN ADVENTURE IN EDUCATION 9 of agriculture. Various plans were advanced by other persons late in the eighteenth and early in the nineteenth centuries for the establishment of a national university . Some of these included agriculture in the proposed curriculum and some proposed an experimental farm in conjunction. Such of the plans as reached Congress seem to have died in committee. In the meantime, democracy in America was in full swing, growing largely out of the ever-expanding frontier. Beginning during the Revolution and reaching white heat by 1820, the doctrine of full opportunities to all and special favors to none was manifesting itself in many ways. French and English writers who travelled in America during the period marvelled at the transition, for Colonial society had been anything but democratic. The new spirit was making itself felt in many ways, including insistent demands for general education. The early colleges had been founded largely to supply an educated ministry and were slow to adapt themselves to changing social conditions. State responsibility for the education of its citizens was a concept of the new democracy but there remained a strong counter feeling that such a step was an invasion of the rights of the family and the church. Several state universities were in existence in the first half of the nineteenth century and some states received Federal grants of land for this purpose, but little had been accomplished toward meeting the educational needs of the masses. The campaigns for a broader outlook both in education and in agriculture were at their height when Congress faced a new proposal in its session of 1841. Captain Alden Partridge introduced into the House of Representa- tives on January 21, 1841, a memorial calling for a grant of money by Congress for the establishment of a system of state schools. The Partridge plan bridged the gap between the Washington plan for a national university and the land grant college system as finally established. :

10 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

The following summary of this memorial is reprinted from A History of Agricultural Education in the United States, by Alfred Charles True

Your memorialist will next proceed to propose a plan, which, if carried into practical effect, would establish a national system of education in the United States which would be in perfect accordance with the principles of our republican institutions, and which would supersede the present anti-republic and monastic system. It is as follows : Let Con- gress pass a general law, appropriating $40,000,000, to be paid by annual installments, out of the proceeds of the sales of the public lands, for the purposes of education; this money to be distributed among the States, in proportion to their representation on the floor of Congress, in such manner that the smallest States shall have at least one institution, and the largest five. The terms on which the States shall be entitled to receive money to be as follows, viz. : That the legislature of each State shall establish (either by establishing new or remodeling old institutions) such number of seminaries as it shall be entitled to, on the following course of instruction.

These institutions should be strictly non-partisan and non-sectarian.

The course of study should include mathematics, physics, chemistry, natural history, science of government, history, moral and mental philosophy, ancient and modern languages and literature, logic, civil engineering, military science and practice, architecture, and political economy, including agriculture, manufactures, and commerce. There should be physical education, with regular military exercises, including fencing, etc., as a substitute for idleness or useless amusements.

The name of Justin S. Morrill, United States Senator

from Vermont, is inevitably linked with the passage of the Land Grant Act of 1862. It was Morrill who drafted the bill and carried it through Congress, with the ardent support, it is true, of a small band of enthusiasts. The act

itself is usually referred to as the Morrill Act or the First

Morrill Act, to distinguish it from the supplementary measure of 1890. Mr. Morrill himself later denied having obtained inspiration from an outside source. Eugene Davenport, former dean of the College of Agri- culture, and Edwin James, former president of the Univer- sity of Illinois, have, in various published records, presented a strong case in favor of Jonathan Baldwin Turner of Illi- :

AN ADVENTURE IN EDUCATION 11 nois as the original champion of the land grant college system. Strong as are these claims for both Morrill and Turner, one cannot read the Partridge Memorial and the first draft of Senator Morrill's bill without noting a striking similarity in fundamental conception.

Jonathan Baldwin Turner was born in Massachusetts, graduated from Yale in 1833 when the influence of the Sillimans was at its height, and became a teacher, farmer, writer and lecturer in Illinois. He campaigned Illinois on horseback, pleading the cause of the common schools and preaching the gospel of agricultural progress. Davenport says he was the first man to plant corn by machinery. At

Granville, 111., November 18, 1851, Turner presented before a convention of farmers and mechanics a plan for an "agricultural university" to be supported by the income from public lands. The purpose was "to meet those felt wants of each and all the industrial classes of our State." Out of this movement grew the Illinois Industrial Univer- sity, later the University of Illinois.

Turner was in communication with leading men of the nation, including Marshall P. Wilder of Massachusetts, president of the United States Agricultural Society, and, it would seem, with Justin S. Morrill himself. The United States Agricultural Society petitioned Congress for 500,000 acres of land to be used for the encouragement of agricultural education. Memorials were pouring into Congress from all parts of the country, urging support for agriculture or for agricultural and industrial education. On February 8, 1853, the Governor of Illinois approved resolutions unanimously adopted by both houses of the state legislature and addressed to Congress. The resolution in part was as follows

Resolved, by the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring herein, That our Senators in Congress be instructed, and our Repre- sentatives be requested, to use their best exertions to procure the passage of a law of Congress donating to each State in the Union an amount of :

12 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

public lands not less in value than five hundred thousand dollars, for the liberal endowment of a system of industrial universities, one in each State in the Union, to co-operate with each other, and with the Smith- sonian Institution at Washington, for the more liberal and practical education of our industrial classes and their teachers; a liberal and varied education adapted to the manifold want of a practical and enterprising people, and a provision for such educational facilities being in

manifest concurrence with the intimations of the popular will, it urgently demands the united efforts of our national strength.

Resolved, That the governor is hereby authorized to forward a copy of the foregoing resolutions to our Senators and Representatives in Congress, and to the executive and legislature of each of our sister States, inviting them to co-operate with us in this meritorious enterprise.

Justin Smith Morrill, author of the Land Grant Act, was born at Strafford, Vt., April 14, 1810, the son of a blacksmith. He received a brief schooling at Thetford and Randolph academies but at the age of fifteen entered the mercantile business. On December 4, 1855, he entered his first Congress. He served as representative until his election to the Senate in 1866, a position he was to retain until his death, December 28, 1898.

In his first term in Congress Mr. Morrill introduced the following resolution

That the Committee on Agriculture be requested to inquire into the expediency of establishing one or more national agricultural schools upon the basis of the naval and military schools, in order that one scholar from each congressional district and two from each State at large may receive a scientific and practical education at the public expense.

The resolution was objected to by Mr. Keitt of South Carolina and was not acted upon. On December 14, 1857, Mr. Morrill introduced his first land grant bill into the House of Representatives. This bill differs somewhat from the final successful act, but chiefly in that the original proposal was for 20,000 acres for each Senator and Repre- sentative instead of the 30,000 finally enacted.

While the bill was pending in Congress the friends of various similar projects rallied to its support. Michigan, AN ADVENTURE IN EDUCATION 13

Ohio, Illinois, New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Kansas, and other states, were represented in the lobby that gathered in Washington to see the bill through.

Jonathan Baldwin Turner was in the heat of the battle. The Ohio forces were strengthened by the influence of Freeman Grant Cary, president of the Farmers' College and a champion of industrial education. Another prominent exponent of the measure was Amos Brown, president of People's College at Havana, N. Y. Horace Greeley was active in support of the Morrill bill.

The Morrill bill was adversely reported to Congress by the Committee on Public Lands. Mr. Morrill countered with a substitute bill which contained slight changes. This measure was passed by the House of Representatives by a vote of one hundred and five to one hundred. Considera- tion was delayed in the Senate until the next Congress when, under the leadership of Senator Wade of Ohio, the bill passed the Senate, February 7, 1859, by a vote of twenty-five to twenty-two.

While the vote was not strictly on party lines, the bulk of the opposition came from southern states. The tension between North and South was approaching a climax, and the South could make no concessions on the doctrine of State's Rights. Otherwise there is reason to believe that Mr. Morrill could have counted on support from some of the southern states that had made progress in the field of agricultural education and had founded state universities.

President Buchanan vetoed the bill, giving a number of reasons, including the time-honored one that the bill was unconstitutional.

Congress failed to pass the bill over the presidential veto, the vote in the House standing one hundred and five for to ninety-four against. Mr. Morrill re-introduced his bill in December, 1861, and again the Committee on Public Lands reported adversely. Senator Wade introduced a bill : :

14 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

in the Senate. Opposition came this time from the newer states having public lands within their domain. After amendments to safeguard the interests of these states the measure passed the Senate by a vote of thirty-two to seven. Mr. Morrill called up the bill in the House on June 17,

1862, and it was finally passed by a vote of ninety to twenty-five. President Lincoln signed the bill July 2, 1862. In numerous public addresses and interviews Senator Morrill later sought to outline the motives that prompted him to introduce his land grant measure. These indicate very definitely that he contemplated nothing so narrow as a technical school of agriculture. He saw that wealth and position were tending to perpetuate a~monopoly of education. He sought for the sons of farmers and mechanics, especially, the benefi£s_of higher education on a level with that provided the sjudents of the literary and classical institutions. A paper" prepared by Morrill about 1874 outlines his objects in promoting the bill

If the purpose was not suggested by the well-known fact of the existence of agricultural schools in Europe it was supported by this fact and especially by constant reflections upon the following points, viz.

First, that the public lands of most value were being rapidly dissipated by donations to merely local and private objects, where one State alone might be benefited at the expense of the property of the Union.

Second, that the very cheapness of our public lands, and the facility of purchase and transfer, tended to a system of bad-farming or strip and waste of the soil, by encouraging short occupancy and a speedy search for new homes, entailing upon the first and older settlements a rapid deterioration of the soil, which would not be likely to be arrested except by more thorough and scientific knowledge of agriculture and by higher education of those who were devoted to its pursuit.

Third, being myself the son of a hard-handed blacksmith, the most truly honest man I ever knew, who felt his own deprivation of schools (never having spent but six weeks inside of a schoolhouse), I could not overlook mechanics in any measure intended to aid the industrial classes in the procurement of an education that might exalt their usefulness. :

AN ADVENTURE IN EDUCATION IS

Fourth, that most of the existing collegiate institutions and their feeders were based upon the classic plan of teaching those only destined to pursue the so-called learned professions, leaving farmers and mechanics and all those who must win their bread by labor, to the haphazard of being self-taught or not scientifically taught at all, and restricting the number of those who might be supposed to be qualified to fill places of higher consideration in private or public employments to the limited number of the graduates of the literary institutions. The thoroughly educated, being most sure to educate their sons, appeared to be perpetuat- ing a monopoly of education inconsistent with the welfare and complete prosperity of American institutions.

Fifth, that it was apparent, while some localities were possessed of abundant instrumentalities for education, both common and higher, many of the States were deficient and likely so to remain unless aided by the common fund of the proceeds of the public lands, which were held for this purpose more than any other.

With the signing of the Land Grant Act there came to a successful conclusion the long struggle for Federa l participation in education and the even longer struggle for

agricultural education. England, ^France and Germany had played with the basic idea but only in America could the democratic ideals embodied in the act come to fruition. That the act was in advance of the time is shown by the fact that nearly fifty years were to be required before the colleges founded thereby were to really come into full bloom.

The following appraisal of the Land Grant Act was made in 1917 by P. P. Claxton, former United States Commissioner of Education

The purpose as stated in the act was "the promotion of the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes." As translated in institutional practice it has meant the professional training of men and women in agriculture, home economics, and various branches of engineering.

The influence which these colleges have had on the development of American life is perhaps the most far-reaching influence that has come from any educational source in the half century since the passage of the land-grant act. Taken together (colleges and experiment stations) these institutions represent America's most distinctive contribution to higher educational theory and practice. 16 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

The Land Grant Act Carried Out

Connecticut Agricultural College is one of sixty-nine institutions operated under the Federal Land Grant Act (the first Morrill Act), which was signed by President Lin- coln, July 2, 1862. The act provided for each state:

. . . the endowment, support, and maintenance of at least one college where the leading object shall be, without excluding other scientific and classical studies, and including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts, in such manner as the legislatures of the States may respectively prescribe, in order to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions in life.

Each state in the Union has at least one such institution.

In Massachusetts the fund was divided, part of it now going to the Massachusetts Agricultural College at

Amherst on behalf of agriculture and part of it to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at Cambridge on behalf of the mechanic arts. Seventeen of these institutions have been established in southern states for the benefit of negroes. Alaska, Hawaii, and Porto Rico have land grant colleges.

The original Land Grant Act has been amplified and its benefits expanded by subsequent Federal Acts, but its fundamental purpose has not been changed. The Land Grant Act of 1862 remains the "charter" of the land grant colleges.

Of the numerous subsequent acts affecting the land grant colleges the following may be considered the most important because they either established new functions or provided material increases in revenue :

The Hatch Act, March 2, 1887, creating the experiment station. AN ADVENTURE IN EDUCATION 17

The (Second) Morrill Act, August 30, 1890, providing further funds for the colleges and clarifying the intent of the original act.

The Adams Act, March 16, 1906, providing further support of the experiment stations.

The Nelson Act, or Nelson Amendment, March 4, 1907, increasing the provisions of the Second Morrill Act. The Smith-Lever Acts, May 8 and June 30, 1914, establishing co-operative extension work in agriculture and home economics. The Smith-Hughes Act, February 23, 1917, providing for vocational education in secondary schools and for the training of teachers by the agricultural colleges. The Purnell Act, February 24, 1925, providing additional revenue to each experiment station, especially in the field of economics.

The modern land grant college, due to the provisions of these various acts, divides its work into three principal

phases : Resident Instruction—full courses, and sometimes short courses, in agriculture, mechanic arts, home economics, teacher training, and in the related arts and sciences; The Agricultural Experiment Station; The Extension Service.

Liberty Hyde Bailey says of the act:

The Land-Grant Act is probably the most important specific enact- ment made in the interest of education. It recognizes the principle that every citizen is entitled to receive educational aid from the Govern- ment and that the common affairs of life are proper subjects with which to train men.

Its provisions are so broad that the educational development of all

future time may rest upon it. It expresses the final emancipation from formal traditional and aristocratic ideas and imposes no methods of limitation.

It recognizes the democracy of education and leaves all the means to be worked out as time goes on. 18 the connecticut agricultural college

The Connecticut Background

Connecticut stood out well among the leaders in the early progress in agricultural improvement and in efforts to establish agricultural schools. It was, incidentally, the first state to establish a permanent common school fund, the nucleus deriving from the sale about 1793 of Con- necticut's share of the Western Reserve lands. It was the first state to put the Land Grant Act in operation, due to the existing facilities at Yale. It was the first state to establish an agricultural experiment station. Probably no state contributed more to the importation and dissemination of improved breeds of livestock than did Connecticut in the second and third quarters of the nineteenth century.

In all respects except one Connecticut has a record of leadership in the complex movements that resulted in the founding and burgeoning of the land grant college system. Con- necticut as a state has contributed little to the theories of democracy and of equal opportunities to all in the field of higher education. Connecticut throughout has clung more closely in its educational policy to the ideals and viewpoints of the old colonial aristocracy than to the almost militant democracy that grew out of the frontier. The Society for Promoting Agriculture in the State of Connecticut was organized August 12, 1794, at Walling- ford. From that date to the present Connecticut has been active in the promotion of agricultural organizations, numerous state, county and local societies having been formed from time to time. In 1852 the Connecticut State Agricultural Society was founded under an act of the General Assembly and continued with brief interruptions to receive State appropriations. Out of this venture grew the State Board of Agriculture, founded in 1866. Mention has been made of the pioneer activities of Jared Eliot, the Killingworth minister, who contributed Amer- ica's first book on husbandry and was, in general, a pro- AN ADVENTURE IN EDUCATION 19 moter of better agriculture. Col. David Humphreys, an early minister to Spain, was largely responsible for the Merino sheep craze early in the nineteenth century, and at his death in 1818 was working on a plan for an experimental farm to be operated by a state agricultural society. Jesse Buel, a native of Coventry, established the Cultivator at Albany, N. Y., in 1834, and made of it a farm journal of wide influence before it was finally merged with The Country Gentleman. Through the Cultivator and his newspaper, The Albany Argus, and through his contacts with the New York legislature, Buel was for many years the recognized leader in the national agitation for agricultural schools. Mention should be made of Henry L. Ells- worth of Connecticut, who, as Commissioner of Patents, wrung the first appropriation for agricultural promotion out of Congress. This was $1,000 for "the collection of agricultural statistics, investigations for promoting agricultural and rural economy, and the procurement of cuttings and seeds for gratuitous distribution among the farmers." These are but a few of the prominent Connecticut names that have figured in the nation's agricultural history. No list would be complete without reference to T. S. Gold of West Cornwall, Nestor of Connecticut agriculture, whose name will appear prominently on later pages. With due deference to the popular tradition that the Gardiner Lyceum at Gardiner, Me., represented the first agricultural school in America as distinguished from the manual labor schools, Connecticut can at least claim the first school that in its name and its curriculum restricted its activities to the field of agriculture. The Agricultural Seminary was founded at Derby, Conn., in the spring of 1824, by Josiah Holbrook, a graduate of Yale in 1810 and later a graduate student under Professor Silliman. The school, which incidentally was co-educational and sought to train teachers in sciences related to agriculture, lasted but one year, but apparently was the first in the United States 20 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

to adopt a name that indicated the primary purpose of teaching agriculture. After the failure, through lack of support, of his agricultural seminary, Holbrook organized the American Lyceum system for the diffusion of education, and this achieved a remarkable success.

Even earlier attempts had been made within the State to teach agriculture. For example, there was the Foreign Mission School which started at Morris but soon moved to Cornwall, where from 1816 to 1827 it specialized in students from the "Sandwich Islands" and representatives of several Indian tribes but included Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, Jews, Greeks, Malayans, and New Zealand- ers—a truly remarkable school with a romantic history. While primarily devoted to religious instruction, this school undertook to teach agriculture and required each student to work a plot of ground under supervision.

In 1832 an unsuccessful attempt was made at Goshen to establish the Litchfield Agricultural High School. In

1842 the Rev. J. B. Noble undertook to open an agricultural institute at Bridgeport, but without success.

By far the most noteworthy of the Connecticut ventures, and one that attained national fame in its day, was The Cream Hill Agricultural School, established in May, 1845, by Dr. S. W. Gold and his son, T. S. Gold, at their farm on Cream Hill, West Cornwall. This school continued in operation until April, 1869, twenty- four years. In this time the school enrolled a total of two hundred and seventy- two students, drawing patronage from Germany, Peru, Mexico and the states of Louisiana, North Carolina, Ohio, Missouri, Illinois, Georgia and Michigan, besides Con- necticut. Many of them were city boys. Brooklyn, N. Y.,

sent a considerable number. George J. Brush, later director of the Sheffield Scientific School, was a student. The principal teacher was T. S. Gold, a graduate of Yale in the class of 1838. Courses in "Agriculture and Horticulture" AN ADVENTURE IN EDUCATION 21 were listed in the school's prospectuses. Military training was a part of the curriculum throughout much of the history of the institution. Botany, mineralogy, etc., were taught in the classroom and applied agriculture was taught on the farm. The boys lived in the Gold home. The Cream Hill Agricultural School is of particular interest because the later Storrs Agricultural School borrowed from it in many essential details. The school seems to have exercised a profound influence on the lives of many of its students. C. L. Gold, writing from Cream Hill Farm in 1929, said: "Not a summer passes but some of the old boys return to look over the scenes of their childhood. A boy of 1861 was here two weeks ago." To Yale, however, must go the lion's share of the credit for early efforts within the State on behalf of agriculture. It was no accident that Yale was made the beneficiary of the Land Grant Act in 1863. Prior to passage of the act it is doubtful if any American institution had made a contribution to agricultural science comparable to that of Yale.

It was President Dwight who persuaded Benjamin Silli- man, a graduate of Yale, to give up the practice of law to become professor of chemistry and natural history at Yale in 1802. Silliman early turned his attention to agricultural chemistry and became the inspiration of students who were to carry the traditions of the Yale laboratories to all parts of the country. Silliman was one of the most popular of Lyceum lecturers and was widely in demand for talks on agricultural chemistry, being called as far as New Orleans for a series of lectures. His son, Benjamin Silli- man, Jr., followed him and with John Pitkin Norton, another former student, founded in 1847 the Yale School of Applied Chemistry, later known as the Yale Scientific School, from which evolved the Sheffield Scientific School. In direct succession came John Addison Porter, Samuel W. Johnson, E. H. Jenkins, and William H. Brewer to carry- on the Yale traditions. Yale was sending its graduates 22 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE in agricultural chemistry to Germany, Holland, Scotland, England and France to study under the best chemists on the continent. Out of the Yale laboratories came not only scientific research on agricultural problems, but propaganda for agricultural research, especially under the leadership of Samuel W. Johnson, that was to play a vital part in the final success of the public agricultural experiment station idea.

Connecticut through its citizens and its organized societies had contributed by 1850 much to the cause of agricultural advancement, but as a commonwealth practically nothing. In 1847 the joint standing committee on education of the General Assembly presented a report upon the "importance of scientific instruction in its relation to agriculture and the useful arts." No action was taken. In 1848 the New Haven Horticultural Society voted to ask the General Assembly for an appropriation for a professorship of agriculture in Yale College. The General Assem- bly yielded in 1852 to insistent demands and established the society from which developed the State Board of Agri- culture. In 1875 the State made an appropriation to the agricultural research work undertaken by Dr. Atwater at Wesleyan University and in 1877 established the Con- necticut Agricultural Experiment Station at New Haven. This was the first permanent example in America of an organized state experiment station. In 1881 when the Storrs Agricultural School project faced the General Assembly the State had definitely committed itself to the cause of improved agriculture, first through the creation of a State Board of Agriculture and, second, through the establishment of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station. :

CHAPTER II

THE STONE AGE AT STORRS AT the Farmers' Convention of the Connecticut Board L of Agriculture, held at New Britain, December 15, 16, and 17, 1880, the Hon. E. H. Hyde, vice-president of the board, announced an offer of 170 acres of land with buildings and $5,000 in cash for the establishment of a school of agriculture. Augustus Storrs offered the land and Charles Storrs the money. A committee of three was appointed to investigate and report to the next General Assembly. The committee was composed of Prof. Wil- liam H. Brewer, James B. Olcott and Dr. George A. Bowen. The committee reported favorably to the General

Assembly, which appointed a commission of its own, and this commission urged acceptance by the State of the gift.

By an act approved April 21, 1881, the General Assembly accepted the offer and established the Storrs Agricultural School.

What motives prompted Charles and Augustus Storrs to make a gift to the State of a school of agriculture? What did they expect such a school to accomplish? These and other related questions naturally occur to mind, and in later years they were to be sharply debated.

So far as this investigation has been able to reveal there has been left no written or printed statement directly attributable to either Charles or Augustus Storrs which provides a key to the answers. An attempt has been made here to approach the problem from three angles

1. What is there known of the lives and characters of Charles and Augustus Storrs that might have influenced their gifts? 24 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

2. What local history or circumstances may be con-

sidered to be significant ?

3. What personal associations may have helped direct their benevolences to this channel?

All American branches of the Storrs family, now widespread and numerous, trace their lineage to Samuel Storrs of Nottinghamshire, England, who emigrated to America in 1663 and settled at Barnstable, Mass. In 1719 he removed to Mansfield, Conn., and the name of Storrs is largely identified in America with this Connecticut town. Charles and Augustus Storrs were of the sixth generation in direct line of descent from Samuel Storrs and were born in the vicinity in which the Storrs School was later founded.*

The School's Founders

Charles and Augustus Storrs were brothers, whose lives ran closely parallel. It would be difficult to say which initiated the movement for the Storrs School.

There is a considerable mass of biographical information concerning Charles Storrs. In a book of sketches, Famous American Fortunes and Men Who Have Made Them, by Laura C. Holloway, published in Philadelphia, is an account of the life of Charles Storrs. This biography undeniably bears his endorsement. A reprint from the book, in the Connecticut Agricultural College library, car-

ries a handwritten inscription on the flyleaf : Storrs Agri- cultural School. May God Prosper it Evermore. Charles

Storrs. A printed note appended says : "These few pages were gotten up with the crowd for a very large book in

Philadelphia. As it was too large and unwieldy for my

* "The Storrs Family," a genealogical record, by Charles Storrs. Privately printed, New York, 1886. :

THE STONE AGE AT STORRS 25 grandchildren, I had these leaves bound for their use. C. S."

From this it is learned that Charles Storrs was born in Mansfield, January 24, 1822. His early life is described as one of privations, doubtless the ordinary ones of the period and locality. He was educated in country school and at eighteen became a teacher. A little later he entered on a career of selling Mansfield-made silk to merchants in New England. He became a partner in a manufacturing and commission firm in Brooklyn in 1850. The firm failed in the financial panic of 1854 and Mr. Storrs assumed and paid the liabilities, amounting to more than

$300,000. December 1, 1854, he opened a commission business of his own, associating with himself his brothers, Augustus and Royal O. Storrs. In 1879 he retired with a competency. He was identified with many charities and public movements and in 1881 was endorsed by the Brook- lyn Eagle, October 18, and Brooklyn Times, October 26, for mayor of Brooklyn. He was a close friend of Horace Greeley, accompanied him on a trip to Texas, and was an executor of Greeley's will. Greeley's interest in People's College was sustained and intimate, but there is no evidence that connects Greeley with the inception of the Storrs school project and, indeed, the People's College was more closely allied to the ideals back of the Land Grant Act of 1862 than to those of the Storrs Agricultural School, which followed more directly the old manual labor plan, The Cream Hill School, and the ideas of Jesse Buel and the agriculturists.

Here is the Holloway explanation of the Storrs School

Having experienced the intellectual privations that are too commonly incident to farm life, the younger brother, Charles, determined that when he was ready to help his fellow men he would make it his duty to establish an agricultural school for those who should desire and purpose to fit themselves for agricultural pursuits. . . . The school was designed to help worthy lads, not only to be farmers in the best 26 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE sense of the word, but to be instructed to that point where they could enjoy the branches of knowledge allied to agriculture, and be well- informed men and useful citizens.

With the energy of a typical New Englander, Mr. Storrs takes an eager interest in the diffusion and practical improvement of education, and would have every farmer skilled in all matters connected with agriculture and stock. Botany, chemistry, geology and kindred sciences he regards as the beautifiers and luxuries of life as well as its material aids.

The introduction, unsigned, to the posthumous publication of Charles Storrs' book on The Storrs Family, identi- fies him very closely with the Storrs School and assigns him a leading part in its inception. He died in Brooklyn,

September 1, 1884.

There is less information available about Augustus Storrs than of his brother. There is more, however, to prove his interest in agriculture.

Charles continued to retain his residence in Brooklyn but Augustus spent his* summers at Storrs* and maintained active supervision of the farm. The Storrs' holdings comprised about eight hundred acres.

Perhaps the best available source of information concerning Augustus Storrs is a little booklet, In Memoriam, Augustus Storrs, printed by the DeVinne Press, New York, but publisher and date not indicated. It consists of the memorial services held for him in Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, N. Y., in 1892. It contains addresses on that occasion by former Lieutenant-Governor Hyde of Connecticut, Prof. A. B. Peebles of Storrs Agricultural School, Thomas G. Shearman, Esq., of Plymouth Church, and the Rev. Lyman Abbott. Mr. Hyde has already been introduced as announcing

* Until the fall of 1888 the place was known simply as Mansfield, the locality taking its name from the post-office near Four Corners. After that date Storrs became a branch of the Eagleville post-office. The name Storrs is used here throughout for convenience. :

THE STONE AGE AT STORRS 27

the Storrs gift at the New Britain convention in 1880. The following is quoted from his memorial address:

The soil of Connecticut, weary and somewhat stubborn, does not readily respond to the unskilled toil of the husbandman, and deserted farms and a decreasing population come as a natural result from its unprofitable tillage. The school to which I have referred was established for the purpose of checking this growing tendency by affording to farmer boys of the State an opportunity to acquire, cheaply but thoroughly, a scientific knowledge of their business. Such knowledge, when applied to the practical business of farming, it was believed—and as the result has shown with good reason—would tend to change existing conditions and would result in productive farms and contented and thrifty farmers.

Prof. A. B. Peebles was relatively a newcomer to the Storrs Agricultural School and must have been selected to represent the school on this occasion because of his facility of expression. However, his address can probably be accepted as representing the school viewpoint. Augustus Storrs had continued to live a neighbor of the school and died at his home in Storrs. Prof. Peebles said in part

. . . We believe that he recognized the dreary monotony of the life of the boy brought up on the farm, plodding along after his team and

his plow ; how he needs the uplift, the broader outlook that comes from education, and how that education needs to be somewhat in the line of his work. And so he helped to establish there this school for scientific agriculture.

It is a very fortunate thing for us that Mr. Storrs' beautiful farm lies just across the way from our school. He was our nearest neighbor. His eight hundred acres or more of well-kept farm is the best example we can give our students of what the possibilities of agriculture in Connecticut are. Mr. Storrs never allowed a weed to grow anywhere on his place if he knew it.

Prof. Peebles points out other instances of Mr. Storrs' careful farming, his attention to stone walls, and how he kept fence corners and roadsides clean.

Dr. Abbott dwelt at some length on the close friendship between Augustus Storrs and Henry Ward Beecher and his extended services in an administrative capacity for 23 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

Plymouth Church. The resolutions of the trustees show he had been treasurer since 1874, president of the board since 1885, trustee since 1865, and member since 1858. There is no doubt that he was a "pillar of the church," and the tributes point to him as a quiet, unobtrusive man, but of sound judgment, patient, persistent, and discerning. There are numerous evidences of his meticulous care in farming operations, and good husbandry seems to have been with him a second religion.

In an address before the Connecticut Board of Agricul- ture in 1884, Prof. L. P. Chamberlain, in defending the location of the Storrs School against the charge that the land of Mansfield was unfitted for agriculture, pointed to the Augustus Storrs farm as one of the best farming enterprises within his knowledge.

T. S. Gold has left* an explanation of the motives of the Storrs brothers in founding the school:

The Messrs. Augustus and Charles Storrs, desirous of doing something for their native town of Mansfield, but above all impressed with a sense of the want, of young men, of opportunities to obtain an education that should better fit them for the business of life, especially for farm life, and from their own experiences of the want of intelligent farm labor, conceived the plan of a farm school, and, by their liberal gifts, have carried it into execution.

Prof. Charles A. Wheeler of Storrs, a graduate of the Storrs Agricultural School, class of 1888, says that the current explanation was that Mr. Storrs (probably Augus- tus but possibly both) saw through the years a stream of country boys coming to Brooklyn to carve out their fortunes and not always succeeding. He saw them face the vicissitudes of city life and became convinced that they would be much better off on the home farm, providing

* "The Storrs Agricultural School," by T. S. Gold. Unpublished manuscript in Connecticut Agricultural College Library. THE STONE AGE AT STORRS 29 they were trained to become successful, progressive farmers.

Of all the attempts to explain the motives of the Storrs brothers this most clearly represents the human appeal. The Storrs brothers themselves were country reared. In these farm boys who braved the city they may have seen the counterparts of themselves.

There is another explanation that has been handed down through the years. It is that the Storrs brothers feared there would be located at Storrs a State institution for unfortunates, which might depress the value of their property.

Both Charles and Augustus Storrs as well as other rela- tives are buried at Storrs in a beautiful hillside cemetery, the gift of Charles Storrs to the community about 1864. The present treasurer of the cemetery association is authority for the statement that in the deed to the cemetery Charles Storrs reserved a family plot, high on the hillside, and that the deed required that intervening trees must be kept down so that the steeple of the Storrs Church can always be seen from the base of the granite shaft that marks the Storrs burial plot. Whatever the views of the Storrs brothers on education, their deep attachment to this spot of earth in the hills of Mansfield is beyond question.

Whitney Hall

There still stands at Storrs a rambling four-story yellow frame building with two-story ell and wing that housed the original Storrs Agricultural School and that had been a beehive of humanity for fifteen years before that. If it

could talk it could tell the story of the early years of the Storrs Agricultural School. More interesting, even, would

be its account of surgical operations which well-meaning 30 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE carpenters have been performing on its interior for sixty- five years. It was condemned as unsafe by a State commission in 1886 but it still stands and it is still undergoing alterations.

But the main reason why this building figures in our history is because had it not been here it is not at all unlikely that there never would have been a Storrs Agricul- tural School, and it is possible but not probable that Yale might still be the land grant college of Connecticut.

This building introduces us to Edwin Whitney, who was born at Stafford, Conn., March 8, 1829, worked as a boy in a mill, spent three years at sea, worked as a machinist at New Britain and there entered the Normal School. He afterward taught in New London, Middle Haddam and Providence and was induced by Charles Storrs to move to Mansfield and start a boys' school. The boys' school and the Whitney home burned, about 1865, and from its ashes grew the building now known as Whitney Hall. It was intended as a new home for the boys' school, but while it was building things were happening. Theodore Sedgwick Gold of West Cornwall was again in action. T. S. Gold was graduated from Yale in 1838 and founded, with his father, the Cream Hill School at West Cornwall in 1845. From that date to his death in 1906 there seems to have been no movement in Connecticut that could be classified as rural, agricultural, or public welfare, in which T. S. Gold did not protrude his spare and angular frame with beneficial results—to the movement but not especially to T. S. Gold. In 1864 there was published in Hartford by the press of

Williams, Wiley & Waterman a pamphlet entitled : A Plan for the Mental, Moral and Physical Development of Chil- dren. An Appeal to the Statesmen and Philanthropist. The Orphans of the War the Children of the State. It was signed by T. S. Gold and possibly was paid for by him. THE STONE AGE AT STORRS 31

The General Assembly accepted the new idea and char- tered the Connecticut Soldiers' Orphans' Home in May, 1864. Various locations were considered and a site of twenty acres on Prospect Hill in Cornwall had been accepted when Edwin Whitney of Mansfield, "who had nearly completed a fine large building for a boys' school,

offered this building with the farm of fifty acres, all valued at $12,000 or $15,000, as a gift to the Home."* Edwin

Whitney conveyed by deed, title to the property to the Connecticut Soldiers' Orphans' Home, September 24, 1866.

Mr. Gold was the first, and apparently the only, secretary of the Home during its existence from October, 1866, to May, 1875.

Even orphans grow up, and in 1875 the Home closed its doors, having first and last provided a home and schooling and religious training in plenty to some two hundred or more orphans of Connecticut men who lost their lives in the Civil War.

Whitney Hall stood empty. The property did not belong to the State. It had not been a gift but a loan for the purposes specified in the deed, and those purposes had been realized. What was to become of the building and land?

Edwin Whitney had died, August 26, 1867, leaving a widow and a daughter, one year old, who died the same day. Another daughter, Edwina Whitney, was born the following February.

Edwin Whitney, in the deed to the Soldiers' Orphans' Home, provided that in the event of its abandonment by the State for the purpose of the Home the trustees should turn over the market value of the property to the Town of Mansfield, in keeping of its board of selectmen, the money to be used for helping defray the expenses of educa-

* "Report of the Connecticut Soldiers' Orphans' Home to the General Assembly of 1874," by T. S. Gold, Secretary. 32 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE tion of "indigent students of the evangelical ministry." First choice was to be given residents of the Town of Mansfield, no student to receive more than $100 a year, and if the income was not all taken up by residents of Mans- field it was to be available to students of the ministry from other towns in the State.

The trustees of the Connecticut Soldiers' Orphans' Home, when they abandoned the premises in 1875, did not comply with the terms of the will. On April 3, 1876, the voters of the Town of Mansfield at a legal meeting, directed its selectmen not to accept the trust for the education of ministers and instructed them to give a quitclaim deed of the property to the widow, Minerva B. Whitney.

On May 1, 1876, the selectmen made such a deed. The trustees of the Connecticut Soldiers' Orphans' Home by two deeds, October 20, 1876, and March 21, 1878, sought to convey the premises to the widow. The property at that time consisted of Whitney Hall with outlying buildings and two parcels of land, amounting to about fifty acres.

The trustees of the Home, desiring to comply with the technical legal requirements of the will, "sold" the property to the widow for one dollar, afterwards challenged in the courts as not the "market value" of the property or a "valuable consideration." The widow, in turn, on March 26, 1878, sold the property to Augustus Storrs for $5,000, and validity of the title formed the basis of subsequent litigation that for a time threatened to wreck the school.

Mention has already been made of a possible but not probable relation between Charles Storrs' friendship with Horace Greeley and his gifts to the Storrs School. News- paper accounts of a later period, particularly in New Haven, put much stress on the influence on the Storrs School of Prof. Brewer of Yale. Brewer started his career as a member of the staff of a small agricultural f

THE STONE AGE AT STORRS 33

school near Buffalo, was later with the project at Ovid, N. Y., and was for thirty years professor of agriculture at Yale. He was chairman of the committee appointed at the New Britain convention to investigate the Storrs offer. Brewer himself, in an address before the Board of Agri- culture,* said: "I went to Mr. Storrs before the school was

established or the public knew anything about it, and talked about the project he had in his mind, and I went before the committee of the Legislature and advocated the acceptance of his gift." There are other evidences that Brewer was instrumental in shaping the early plans for the Storrs School, although according to his own statement he had

nothing to do with the school after it was established.

T. S. Gold also was in position, at least after 1866, to impress his educational ideas upon the Storrs brothers. The striking similarity in form and substance between the Cream Hill School and the Storrs Agricultural School is evidence which cannot be ignored.

The State Accepts a Gift

On April 21, 1881, the General Assembly by legislative act established the Storrs Agricultural School. The philosophy which lay behind this action seems to have been simple. A wealthy philanthropist had offered his native state a generous gift. Yankee thrift required its accep-

tance. So it came to pass that on the part of both the Board of Agriculture and the General Assembly the idea of an agricultural school was first approved and then debated. The act itself may reasonably be taken as representing the State's attitude toward the project, so far as

it had an attitude, at that time. The act reads :

* Report of the Board of Agriculture, 1886-1887. t Report of the Board of Agriculture, 1884-1885.

/ 34 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

AN ACT ESTABLISHING THE STORRS AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL

General Assembly,

January Session, A.D. 1881.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:

Section 1. The Storrs Agricultural School is hereby established for the education of boys whose parents are citizens of this State, in such branches of scientific knowledge as shall tend to increase their profi- ciency in the business of agriculture.

Sec. 2. There shall be appointed by the senate six trustees of said school, three of whom shall in the first instance hold office for two years, and three for four years, said terms to be determined by lot, and after the first election such trustees shall be elected for four years, or to fill an unexpired term. The Connecticut board of agriculture shall also, annually, elect a trustee, and the director of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station shall be ex-officio one of said trustees. The Gover- nor of the State shall be ex-officio president of said board of trustees.

Sec. 3. Said board of trustees when elected in accordance with the provisions of the foregoing section shall be, and hereby are, empowered to take in behalf of the State of Connecticut deeds of such lands and other property, and such money, as may be donated for the purpose of establishing and maintaining said school.

Sec. 4. To said board of trustees shall be committed the location of said school, the application of the funds for the support thereof, the appointment of managers and teachers, and the removal of the same; the powers to prescribe the studies and exercises of pupils in said school, rules for its management, and the admission of pupils ; and they shall annually report to the General Assembly the conditions of said School.

Sec 5. The sum of five thousand dollars is hereby appropriated annually for the support of said school, provided lands, buildings, and other property, or money amounting in aggregate to fifteen thousand dollars, as appraised by said trustees, shall be donated to the State for the establishment and support thereof, and the comptroller is hereby directed to draw orders on the treasurer quarterly for such a total amount upon the presentation of a certificate signed by the board of trustees, or a majority thereof, that said school has been in operation during the quarter, and a like sum expended. !

THE STONE AGE AT STORRS 35

There is little of significance as to the State's aims in the act itself, further than the very evident intention to restrict the school to "the business of agriculture." T. S. Gold, however, in his Cream Hill School, had already established the fact that an agricultural curriculum could include French, German, Spanish and piano.

Now as to the deed which Augustus Storrs offered the State

There were three deeds, first and last, ranging over a period of about five years. Both the first deed and the second had strings attached, and these offered a vantage hold to certain individuals who for one cause or another later wanted to move the school.

The deeds are on file in the town clerk's office in Mans- field. They are entirely too long to be reproduced here. Copy of the first deed may be found in the Report of the Joint Commission of the Legislature and Trustees regarding the Storrs Agricultural School, printed in 1885 by order of the General Assembly. The following represents only a part of the first sentence of the original deed but will doubtless prove sufficient for the purposes of the reader:

This Indenture made this Fifteenth day of April, in the year 1881, between Augustus Storrs of the city of Brooklyn, county of Kings and State of New York, of the first part, and the Trustees of the Storrs Agricultural School of the State of Connecticut, appointed in pursuance of an act of the General Assembly of said State, entitled "An Act Establishing the Storrs Agricultural School," passed at the January Session, A.D. 1881, parties of the second part, Witnesseth that the said party of the first part, for and in consideration of the establishment and maintenance by said Trustees and their successors, of an agricultural school upon the premises hereinafter described, as provided in said act, and the sum of one dollar lawful money to him paid by the said party of the second part, has conveyed and confirmed to the parties of the second part, and to their successors in office, all those three tracts or parcels of land situate in the North Society in the Town of Mansfield, County of Tolland, and State of Connecticut, bounded and described as follows, to wit: The first parcel, commencing at a corner thereof, on the westerly side of the highway known as the Norwich turnpike or road leading from the Four Corners to Willimantic, adjoining the north- :

36 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE east corner of the garden of said Storrs and running thence along said Storrs' land south 70° west, 49 rods and 12 links, to a stake and stones by wall ; thence north 27° west, 9 rods and 3 links ; thence south 79%° west, 14 rods and 14 links, thence south 68%° west, 65 rods and 10 links, to a stake and stones; thence south 21° east, 2 rods and 21 links to an abutment of a wall—

And so on through four pages of type, measurements being taken from stone walls, town highways, adjoining property, stakes and stones, and even trees and bushes. The stone walls are gone, one dirt road is now a state highway, buildings have replaced trees and bushes, and what is there about a pile of stones to provide identification in New England? One parcel was subject to a prior grant for water pipes across the property and one parcel was subject to a grant that permitted "one Spafford the right to enter upon and dig clay upon one acre of said last-described parcel." The three parcels contained approximately the following acreages: 51 acres plus, 13 acres plus, and 101 acres plus.

The section of the deed that later caused trouble was as follows

To have and to hold the above-described premises unto them, the said Trustees of the Storrs Agricultural School, and their successors in office, for so long a time as the said Storrs Agricultural School shall be maintained by the State of Connecticut upon said premises and upon the express condition and reservation that upon the abandonment of the said premises or the discontinuance or abolition of said Storrs Agricul- tural School by said Trustees or their successors in office, the premises are to revert to the said party of the first part, his heirs or assigns.

The effect of this reservation was apparent. If the State at any time abandoned the Storrs Agricultural School, the property, along with any improvements the State might have made, would revert to the heirs of the Storrs estate. For some years this was an effective argument against capital investment or increased maintenance appropriations on the part of the State. :

THE STONE AGE AT STORRS 37

The Board of Trustees held its first meeting at Hartford, April 22, the day after the act became effective.* Gover- nor Hobart B. Bigelow presided. The board was made up as follows

Gov. Hobart B. Bigelow, New Haven, President

J. P. Barstow, Norwich, Vice-President J. N. Hall, Willmantic, Secretary and Treasurer S. O. Vinton, Eagleville

J. M. Hubbard, Middletown T. S. Gold, West Cornwall

J. B. Olcott, South Manchester E. H. Hyde, Stafford Prof. S. W. Johnson, New Haven

The farm buildings were put in charge of a committee consisting of J. P. Barstow, E. H. Hyde, and S. O. Vinton. The organization of the school was entrusted to T. S. Gold,

J. B. Olcott, and S. W. Johnson, who were authorized to make a visit to the agricultural school at Guelph, Ontario, "in order to prepare themselves for that duty." It may seem somewhat surprising that with numerous agricultural schools and colleges in this country the trustees should have turned to a Canadian institution for their study. Guelph, however, stood out among the various Canadian efforts that paralleled our agricultural school history and was better known to Connecticut than some of our own western schools. On May 5 the trustees held a second meeting at Mans- field and received from Augustus Storrs the deeds of the farm and buildings and from Charles Storrs a check for $5,000 for the equipment of the farm and school and another for $1,000 to be applied especially to the drainage and reclamation of a swampy portion of the farm known in the early literature as "The Great Swamp" and, because of its muck soil, later used for intensive cultivation of vegetable crops.

* First annual Report of the Board of Trustees of the Storrs Agricultural School. 38 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

A third meeting was held at Willimantic on July 6 and a fourth at Mansfield, August 9. At the August meeting Solomon Mead of New Haven, "a practical farmer and gardener,"* was appointed principal and professor of agriculture and Dr. H. P. Armsby, who under the direction of Dr. Johnson and Dr. Jenkins had been carrying on the traditions of the Sillimans, Norton and Porter at the Yale laboratories, was made vice-principal and professor of agricultural chemistry. Armsby later became director of the experiment station at Pennsylvania State College and one of the nation's leaders in agricultural research. A Prospectus of the Storrs Agricultural School, Mans- field, Connecticut, was issued in July, the forerunner of the college catalog. In this document the objects of the school were said to be to "teach practical and scientific agriculture and horticulture." The school year was to embrace three terms of twelve weeks each, beginning the last Wednesday in September, and allowing two weeks vacation at the holidays and one week in April. "Applicants must be at least fifteen years of age; must furnish a certificate of good moral character from a clergyman or member of the Board of School Visitors of the town where they reside, and will be subjected to an examination in reading, spelling, writing, arithmetic, English, grammar, geography, American history, and practical agriculture." A full course was to occupy two years. "First class instruction" was offered at the low rate of $10 per term or $25 a year, the charges to be remitted in "worthy cases." "Good board, including washing, fuel and lights, will be furnished at cost, estimated at $2.50 per week."

During the fall and winter terms three hours a day were to be devoted to labor and six to study, and in the summer term five hours to labor and five hours to study. Com- pensation for labor was to be allowed at its market value

* Gold manuscript. ::

THE STONE AGE AT STORRS 39

(afterward found to be eight cents an hour), to be turned in on the term bills. The by-laws required students to attend religious services at least once each Sunday unless previously excused. «-A Bible class was to be held each Sunday in which students were "invited" to join. Permission must be obtained before leaving the farm. The "prospectus" said of the course of study

The plan of the school being unlike that of any institution existing in this country, the order of studies, the time devoted to the subjects taught, and to some extent, the subjects themselves, must be determined by experience and will largely depend upon the capacity of the scholars. Much of the instruction is not contained in textbooks and cannot be given or acquired by the usual methods.

The trustees, however, did outline two principal courses of instruction, Agricultural Practice and Agricultural Science, and sought to be specific regarding each

AGRICULTURAL PRACTICE

1. The improvement of the soil by tillage, drainage, manuring, irrigation. The culture and handling of the various field, garden, and orchard crops of New England—grass, grain, roots, vegetables, and fruits—from planting to market. The use, care, and repair of farming tools, implements, and machines. The breeding, rearing, training, feeding, and use of live stock—cattle, horses, sheep, pigs, and poultry. The best methods of dairy practice will be here included. The business and management of the farm in all its details, keeping accounts, inventory, capital, labor, rotation of crops, systems of farming adapted to various circumstances. History of the agricultural methods of other countries.

2. Collateral with instruction in agricultural practice will be the course in AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE

This will comprise those sections of physical and natural science that have a directly useful bearing upon New England farming, viz. : "Agri- cultural Chemistry"—the composition of air, rocks, soils, plants, animals, fertilizers, foods, and agricultural products ; the chemical processes of weathering, putrefaction, combustion; the processes of vegetable and animal growth; respiration, digestion, nutrition, excretion; chemistry of fermentation; "Agricultural Physics"; the nature of matter, the laws of energy ; the relations of air, water, and soil to heat—rain, dew, 40 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE frost, storms; "Agricultural Mechanics"—laws of motion and friction, principles of the construction of farm tools and machines ; "Agricultural Botany"—description, and identification of common trees, shrubs, grasses, and herbaceous plants useful and injurious, also of parasites, fungi, yeast, bacteria ; vegetable anatomy and physiology ; structure and functions of cell-tissues, seeds, roots, stems, buds, leaves, flowers and fruits, with microscopic dissections, and demonstrations ; the development of plants, germination, seed-testing, movement of the juices, budding, graft- ing, fruiting, ripening, etc. ; 'Agricultural Zoology"—classification of animals, special history of the agriculturally important quadrupeds, birds, fish, insects, useful and injurious; anatomy and physiology of ox, horse, etc. ; common diseases of cattle, etc. ; and their domestic treatment.

3. The correct and ready use of the English language will be taught incidentally by exercises in reading, speaking, and essay-writing upon agricultural subjects.

4. Instruction will be given in such parts of arithmetic and elementary geometry as are serviceable upon the farm, viz. ; keeping of accounts, surveying and mensuration of superficies and solids.

5. Students will be taught such simple carpenter and smith work as are useful in New England rural life.

On September 28, 1881, the buildings were ready except for the laboratories, and twelve young men were on the ground or on the way. The formal public opening of the school was set for October 7, and on that day the church at Mansfield was filled with townspeople, a delegation from the Willimantic Farmers' Club, and citizens from various parts of the State. The Rev. Mr. Beach of Mansfield opened and closed the exercises with invocation and bene- diction, and addresses were made by the Hon. B. G. Nor- throp, Hon. Albert Day, Rev. Mr. Beach, Rev. Mr. Glidden, Prof. W. O. Atwater, and several of the trustees of the school. After the rather lengthy ceremony the trustees held a meeting and completed the organization of the school by appointing B. F. Koons professor of natural history. Prof. Koons, who had studied at Oberlin and at Sheffield Scientific School, entered upon his duties a few weeks later and began a career of about twenty years, including the second longest term as president in the history of the school. : : : 0c+. '/, l&L THE STONE AGE AT STORRS 41

Students in attendance during the fall term were

Frederick B. Brown, Gilead, Tolland County- Frank D. Case, Barkhamsted, Litchfield County Charles H. Elkins, Brooklyn, N. Y. Charles S. Foster, Bristol, Hartford County John M. Gelston, East Haddam, Middlesex County George C. Gilbert, Georgetown, Fairfield County William H. Gillette, East Haddam, Middlesex County Samuel B. Harvey, Mansfield, Tolland County Henry R. Hoisington, Coventry, Tolland County Burke Hough, Weatogue, Hartford County Arthur S. Hubbard, Glastonbury, Hartford County Andrew K. Thompson, West Cornwall, Litchfield County

F. M. Winton, Bristol, • Hartford County

The day's routine as published in the first report of the trustees was as follows

Rising Bell—6.30 A. m. Breakfast—7.00 a. m. Prayers immediately after breakfast Lectures and recitations—8.00 a. m. to 12 M. Dinner— 12.15 P. m. Work—2 to 5 p. m. (practically from just after dinner till dark) Supper—6.00 p. m. Study hours—7 to 9 p. m.

Under the head of "Manual Labor" we find this interesting paragraph

The out-door work of the students, during the first term, consisted in aiding to harvest the crops then in the ground, viz. : buckwheat, potatoes, corn, and a few cabbages, beets and apples, also considerably in digging and drawing of stone, and laying them into wall, and in carrying out many minor improvements on the premises, but chiefly in execut- ing the drainage of the swamp, which formed the main part of the autumn work. Since December 1st, the getting and cutting of wood, building of an ice house, and indoor work for the laboratories, have mostly occupied the hours of labor.

And this comment, interesting if true : "The students are reported to have engaged with zest in their manual labor duties." Nearly twenty years were to be required for the com- 42 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

plete eradication of the manual labor philosophy of Fellen- berg and his successors from the Storrs Agricultural School. In a later chapter will be found a poem published in the C. A. C. Lookout, student paper, in 1899, which treats of the revolt against picking up stones in an age when athletics were beginning to come into their own. Attention was called in public addresses and in print by trustees and other friends of the school to the fact that the faculty and students lived under one roof and were, indeed, one family.

There is no question but that the early organization of the school was paternal and that the intention was to improve the boys, mentally, morally and physically ; but the modern schoolboy, after one glance at the regimen of the Storrs School of 1881, would probably elect the state penitentiary in preference.

It is impossible for one to read the original prospectus of the Storrs School without noting a close similarity to the early prospectuses of the Cream Hill School. Whatever the impress of the Storrs brothers may have been on this institution, regardless of the conferences that Augustus Storrs may have had with Prof. Brewer, and despite any ideas borrowed from Guelph or brought in by Mead, Armsby or Koons, the evidence is convincing that T. S. Gold, more than any other one man, shaped its early destinies. The Storrs School was a lineal descendant of the Cream Hill School. Closing exercises at the school were held, according to the Hartford Courant, June 28, 1882. As the course required two years to complete there were no graduates. The program consisted of a prayer by the Rev. Nathaniel Beach, an address by the Rev. L. T. Chamberlain of Norwich, and an address on behalf of the trustees by T. S. Gold of West Cornwall. Following the exercises there was a laboratory practice by the students to illustrate the methods of instruction, and a tour of inspection of the farm and buildings. :

THE STONE AGE AT STORRS 43

A letter in the Hartford Courant of June 29 suggests among other things the farm atmosphere which sur- rounded the early development at Storrs. The letter is signed J. B. O., doubtless J. B. Olcott of Manchester, a member of the committee appointed by the New Britain convention and also a member of the first Board of Trustees The Stores Farm School. Closing Exercises on Wednesday

Willimantic, 7 p. m., June 28, '82

My Dear Courant: —Turning the matter over in our minds before rising this morning, we thought we couldn't get to Mansfield to-day having too many strawberries to see to. But just as I was starting for the city about 7 o'clock on the first load, I met Em going into the garden dressed for town, saying she meant to follow on the other load, though 'twas looking like rain. Thinks I old lady, if strawberries go easy we'll get to Mansfield. So we pushed things, scattered the berries, and tele- graphed for a team at Willimantic, after a good solid lunch. Of course we didn't expect to come here in time for the programme of the day, but we wanted to see the place and how it was running.

It is eight miles up from the station, and not all up hill either. In some places you have to go down hill, and the road, take it both ways, bears a good deal on the tugs or breeching. The way is lined with old farm houses and old style country residences of the better sort, with a good many hard maples and spreading elms. The white roses are just now in bloom, the weeding and hoeing is nicely done, thanks to the favorable weather, and some farmers were beginning their haying.

We expected to meet the trustees coming home, and as every one of the many travellers hove in sight ahead, one of us would say, "there comes a trustee." At last we met the crowd in a lump, as much as the dusty road would allow. They pretended the business was all over, and we wanted to know what they were going so soon for and pushed on.

The ceremonies and festivities were no doubt interesting. The Rev. Dr. Chamberlain of Norwich, the leading speaker, is one of a family of brothers, scattered about the country and cutting considerable swaths. One was the noted reconstruction governor of South Carolina, another is an excellent farmer at the Reform School I hear ; and two, I am told, are prominent farmers in Worcester county. As I saw nothing of the closing exercises of the Storrs School, except the satisfaction in the faces of those who had seen and heard, I will not report anything. Mr. Gold is an old teacher and always happy with boys around him. Although the black mare we got of Turner and Wilson was both kind and speedy—$2.00 for the 16 miles—we were short of time to see all we

wanted to. . . :

44 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

Professor Koons I had not yet seen, and he took my eye at once, as a man whom boys would naturally do for. We found him in the school room, which now had none of that tedious old look the school room formerly had. All the formal benches are done away with and chairs and tables with school business things on them take their places.

The skeletons of an ox, a horse, dog, sheep, and chicken, well known mostly in life to the boys, are set up by Professor Koons in the school room for common use and illustration.

They say the institution keeps three maids to help about the house. I suppose we saw them. It is good to see the other sex mustering strong in the farm kitchen.

Perhaps we have spent more money than we ought to, but I vow we have made a good beginning. Let anybody growl who wants to—this is a free country. All that is needed now is more scholars to carry on, and I'll warrant these will be forthcoming for the fall and winter terms. It is getting noised about the state that this is a pretty good school.

Yours, J. B. O.

Later when the Board of Agriculture was debating the movement to transfer the Land Grant Act funds from Yale to Storrs, Olcott violently championed the cause of Yale.

The trustees' report for 1882 shows six students enrolled in the class of 1883 and eighteen in the class of 1884. Solomon Mead had retired as principal and was succeeded by Dr. Armsby as acting principal. Beginning the winter term of 1883 Professor Koons became principal. Horatio Goddard was superintendent of the farm and Mrs. R. H. Coit was matron. The usual financial situation was developing

"It is always difficult to estimate exactly the cost of any

undertaking, and especially is this true when it advances

upon a new and untried path ; and we are not surprised to find that the rough estimate of $5,000 per annum has not proved sufficient to meet the expenses required in establishing the Storrs Agricultural School."

There was need of furniture for the house, tools and stock for the farm, books and apparatus for the school, :

THE STONE AGE AT STORRS 45

laboratories to be fitted up, repairs on the buildings, farm improvements, and so on. The General Assembly was being introduced to the exigencies of higher education. Many gifts by individuals or firms, of fertilizers, seeds, tools, apparatus, etc., were reported. Apple and peach trees had been set out, the "great swamp of about a dozen acres" was responding to student efforts and the $1,000 gift of Charles Storrs, new stone walls were up, a library was started, and the farm was being equipped with livestock and machinery. Board had gone to $3 a week. The income of the school for 1882, including the State's $5,000,

was $6,046.62, the cash on hand January 1, 1883, was $38.57, and outstanding bills amounted to $1,781.18. Financially the school was in the usual "healthy" condition of schools generally. More illuminating perhaps than the report of the Board of Trustees is a talk given before the Connecticut Board

of Agriculture by Dr. H. P. Armsby and printed in its report for 1882. The address was presented as "a plain, unvarnished account of what the Storrs Agricultural School has done, is doing, and aims to do, to the end that you may have the means of judging intelligently what it is worth to you individually or to the State." Dr. Armsby's address may be accepted as representing the viewpoint of the teaching staff, tempered of course by the opinions of its Board of Trustees. Without going too deeply into the content of this address, a few random sen- tences will show how skillfully Armsby harmonized his ideals for broader training with the intensely practical viewpoints of some of his hearers

"Any school for education of farmers' boys, therefore, which ignores or neglects the natural sciences is fatally defective." " "It is not 'a little college.'

"It is not a scientific school in the common acceptation :

46 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE of the term. Its pupils study science, not for its own sake, but for the uses they can make of it in one particular occupation."

"On the other hand it is not a school for the benefit of those who are not smart enough to go to college or to a scientific school."

Of the studies on which principal stress was laid, Dr. Armsby mentions chemistry, physics or natural philosophy, biology (including botany and zoology), geology and mineralogy, scientific cattle feeding, and stock breeding. Prof. Johnson's book, "How Crops Grow," was being used as a text in structural botany and vegetable physiology. Daily exercises were given in bookkeeping.

Following the address came a series of questions and answers, some of them of interest as representing current viewpoints — Hon. E. H. Hyde "It has been said that this is a school especially for the sons of rich men, etc." Dr. Armsby—"Out of the eighteen students we now have, I can recall at present but one who would answer to that description."

Mr. Adams of Rockville—"Is there any limit to the number of students— who can be accommodated?" Dr. Armsby "Our capacity in this respect is limited by the number of dormitories at our disposal. As we are at present situated, we could not accommodate more than twenty-five or twenty-six." — Mr. Stanley of East Hartford ". . . If a boy should come there who was wild in his habits, what is there in your discipline—that would teach him to behave properly?" Dr. Armsby ". . . Our simple rule is, that all students are required to conduct themselves in a quiet, gentlemanly manner, and no student will be allowed to remain in the :

THE STONE AGE AT STORRS 47

school who by misconduct or negligence shows himself to be unworthy of its benefits."

Short talks were made by T. S. Gold, E. H. Hyde, Mr. Allen of East Windsor and Mr. Johnson of Newtown prais- ing the school and its purpose. One speaker characterized

it as a "Normal School of agriculture" and expressed the conviction that if the State could train teachers it could afford to train farmers. Another thought the school might be able to take some of the "dirt" out of farming. Two divergent viewpoints appeared which are probably as old as agriculture Mr. Hammond—"Mr. Gold says the boys are being educated not to be afraid of getting the dew on their boots. I want to inquire what time they get up. I inherited a farm in Colchester and my boy has charge of it. I have been trying to get him up early in the morning, and I was thinking, if they did not have breakfast at the Storrs Agricultural School until seven o'clock, my boy has scored a point against me. I once worked on a farm nine weeks and I had to get up at half-past four. I do not know what the rule is now."

". 'all Mr. Day of Brooklyn— . . It is an old adage that work and no play makes Jack a dull boy' and it has seemed to me that the number of hours of study and the number of hours of labor might be so great that there would be little chance for recreation and for 'Young America' to act out himself, which we all like to see, in an honest, pleasant way. Those who know me know that I am a working farmer, and I have found that when I have done my day's work, I am incapacitated for study or reading; I am exhausted. Now, I would like to ask if the hours of labor are not so excessive that a student who may be naturally dull in his studies is overworked?"

Considering the date, 1882, it would seem that Mr. Day was very, very far ahead of his time. : ;

48 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

The commencement exercises of the second class to graduate were held June 19, 1884, in an oak grove* on Mr. Storrs' land. The event was notable for the addresses by the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher and Gov. Thomas M. Waller. Each of the six graduates read a paper. The

list follows

"The Laws of Dew, Frost and Storms," Jerry L. Farm, Plymouth. "The Feet of the Horse and Ox, and their Diseases," Andrew Hyde, South Glastonbury. "Irrigation and Drainage," Fred C. Leavens, Wauregan.

"Conditions of Health in Our Homes," Samuel Q. Porter, Jr., Union- ville.

"Insects Injurious to the Apple," Frank S. Hubbard, Glastonbury.

"The Physiology and Chemistry of Cattle Feeding," Clifford S. Barnes, Collinsville.

The report of the trustees for 1884 shows that the library had acquired four hundred books during the year, among them full sets of the Encyclopedia Britannica and Johnson's Encyclopedia, both from the late Charles Storrs, who also gave the library $200 for books. In addition, Mr. Storrs gave a collection of pictures and portraits and $100 to pay "the exchange for a better driving horse and a United States flag, 8x 15 feet." The following list of gifts will indicate the variety of benevolences the school was attracting:

One New York seed drill, from Higganum Manufacturing Company one plow, No. 3, Columbia Plow Works from Copake Iron Works,

N. Y. ; five straight thrust hoes, ten angular thrust hoes, five bayonet hoes, one mullein hoe, from William J. Wood, President of the Collins Company; one set of caponizing tools from J. C. Sternberg, Hartford,

Conn. ; some rhubarb roots from Ex-Governor Hyde ; one-half dozen quince trees, one dozen peach trees, two flowering shrubs, one dozen grapes, and twenty scions, all from Mr. P. M. Augur, Middlefield, Conn.

Fifty rhubarb plants and seventy-five scions, from Mr. J. A. Lewis, Willimantic, Conn. Two thousand one hundred and fifty strawberry plants (seven varieties), two hundred Cuthbert raspberry, one hundred cherry currants, fifty blackberry (Early Harvest), from Hale Brothers,

* This grove still stands, across the Gurleyville road back of Holcomb Hall. It was a favorite place for open-air meetings in early days of the school. THE STONE AGE AT STORRS 49

South Glastonbury, Conn. One ton Coe's phosphate, from Mr. E. Frank Coe of New York. Receipted bill for $53.60 advertising in the New- England Homestead, from the editor of the Homestead. Also, advertise- ment for three months in the Connecticut Farmer, by the editor. One low, single-horse cart and harness from a friend. One pair thorough- bred Berkshire pigs, from Mr. H. Sedgwick, Cornwall, Conn.

The following list of papers, contributed by the publishers, for the boys' reading room : The Connecticut Courant, the Connecticut Farmer, Willimantic Journal, Willimantic Chronicle, American Agriculturist, The Rural New Yorker, The Cultivator and Country Gentlemen, Farmer's Advocate, New England Farmer, Co-operative Poultry Post, The Religious Herald, Massachusetts Ploughman, Illustrated Christian Weekly (by Miss Helen Townsend of Newport, R. I.).

Last winter a course of lectures was arranged for the benefit of the school. The lectures were gratuitous, and free to the citizens. The plan was so successful that arrangements are made for the continuance of the course this winter, and we take this opportunity to acknowledge our obligations to those who have so freely served us.

The School Becomes an "Issue"

Meanwhile political storm clouds were rising. The school was bursting out at the elbows and the trustees were carrying their needs to the General Assembly. Fur- ther capital investment was necessary if the school was to grow, and the limitations of the Storrs deed began to assume a practical aspect. The State could- not reasonably invest in the improvement of a property that it did not own in fee simple. A movement was set on foot to move the school. It was argued that Storrs was isolated, three miles from the nearest railroad. The soil was stony and the land rough. The original appropriation of the State had been $5,000 a year for a contemplated period of five years. As the five-year period drew toward a close the entire question of the future of Storrs came up for discussion. The matter was argued before the Board of Agriculture in 1884, and Prof. Brewer of Yale came valiantly to the defense of the Storrs School and its location. He heartily :

50 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

endorsed the work of the school. Prof. Chamberlain of the Storrs School also defended the location, as did Mr. Yeomans of Columbia. A resolution introduced by Yeo- mans to the effect that "The Storrs Agricultural School is deserving of the hearty support and sympathy of every farmer in the State of Connecticut" passed by unanimous vote. The General Assembly of 1884 took cognizance of the various questions that were arising in connection with the school and passed a resolution, Section 2 of which was as follows

Sec. 2. That a committee, consisting of one Senator and three Repre- sentatives, be appointed to act with the Trustees of said School, to enquire and report to the next session of the General Assembly the exact position in which said property stands with respect to the title in the State; the desirability of the location; the advantages, if any, of a change in the same; the cost of such change as compared with the present cost of maintaining said School in the present place ; what other location, if any, is desirable, together with the estimated cost of securing the same, and the advantages to be derived from such change; and to report, in full as to the general adaptation of said Storrs Agricultural School, as at present constituted, to accomplish the object intended by said School; and any other matters appertaining to said School which may to the committee seem best.

The legislative committee consisted of Lorrin A. Cooke of Barkhamsted for the Senate, and Nicholas Staub, New Mil ford, Judson A. Potter, Wellington, and Henry H. Brainard, Haddam, for the House. Their investigation was undertaken in collaboration with the trustees of the school. The report to the General Assembly was signed by the committee and by F. R. Starr, J. P. Barstow, E. H.

Hyde, T. S. Gold, J. M. Hubbard, S. W. Johnson and J. B. Olcott for the trustees. The results of the investigation were printed in 1885 as a Report of the Joint Commission of the Legislature and Trustees Regarding the Storrs Agricultural School. The committee caused to be published in newspapers of Hartford a statement of their investigation and invited :

THE STONE AGE AT STORRS 51 communications from persons willing to donate land or money, with a view to moving the Storrs School to a new location. Only one reply was received, that in reference to a will for the benefit of a school in Middlesex County. It was found that the conditions of the will were such that the fund was not available to the State's project.

The commission made no specific recommendations but did obtain from Augustus Storrs a new deed, dated March,

1884. So far as it represented changes from the first deed, the new deed read as follows

To have and to hold the above-mentioned premises unto the said Trustees of The Storrs Agricultural School, and their successors in office, for the term of twenty years from the 18th day of March, 1883, the said premises to then become the property of the State of Con- necticut in fee simple, without any reversion to the party of the first part, his heirs or assigns, and upon the further condition that if the said Board of Trustees of the State of Connecticut desire to dispose of or sell the said property before the lapse of said period of twenty years from the 18th day of March, 1883, such sale or other disposal of the premises may be made by said Board of Trustees or by the State of Connecticut upon the payment by the said State of Connecticut of the sum of twelve thousand dollars to the said party of the first part.

And upon the further condition that the said premises shall never be used for the purposes of an insane asylum, or poorhouse, or reformatory, or a charitable institution of any kind, except a school for educational purposes, without the written consent of the party of the first part.

This second deed lends color to the tradition, previously mentioned, that the Storrs brothers feared that the old Whitney property might at some time become an institution for unfortunates. It is possible, however, that this second

deed is itself the origin of the tradition. In any event it was evident that Augustus Storrs was not yet ready to deed the property to the State without some redress in the event that the State should later discontinue the school.

The report of the commission left the problems of the school unsettled. 52 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

The General Assembly of 1885 adopted a new resolution:

Resolved by this Assembly, That a Commission composed of one Senator and four Representatives, to be elected by ballot in their respec- tive Houses, shall be appointed to ascertain whether a full title to the Storrs Agricultural School can be acquired by gift; if not, at what price such title can be acquired by purchase, and, in the latter case, if the price is deemed unreasonable by said Commission to ascertain whether some other property, suitable for a State Agricultural School, situated in Tolland County, can be acquired at a reasonable price, which said Commission shall report fully to the next General Assembly, with its recommendations in the premises. Said Commission shall not be paid for its services, but its actual expenses shall be paid by the State.

The Report of the Agricultural School Commission of 1885 is one of the most important documents in the history of the institution at Storrs. The commission went far beyond its instructions and reviewed the history and philosophy of agricultural education in Connecticut, beginning with the acceptance of the Land Grant Act of 1862. Here was born, so far as official action is concerned, the famous Yale-Storrs controversy. The Senate elected John Brewster and the House Wil- liam Edgar Simonds, Henry C. Miles, George M. Clark, and Cornelius Mead. Simonds was made chairman. From that time on for a period of fifteen years he was the domi- nating personality in all affairs connected with Storrs. The commission met at Storrs, May 26, 1885, and employed Charles Phelps of Rockville to examine the

Storrs title. At a meeting in Hartford August 25, Attor- ney Phelps reported that the title "was practically a good one but not legally so." Willard Eddy of Hartford was then employed to search the title further. On August 29 Simonds addressed an unofficial letter to Augustus Storrs asking if he was willing to convey title without limitation or restriction. The answer was in the negative. A meeting was held October 1 at Hartford at which Messrs. Miles and Clark were appointed a sub-committee to investigate other locations in Tolland County. They visited farms in THE STONE AGE AT STORRS S3

South Coventry, Columbia, Bolton, Somers and Ellington and decided on the Samuel F. Ticknor farm at Columbia Green. A meeting was held November 19 to examine the farm but not all members were present. Another meeting was held at Hartford, December 4, at which time a letter was received from Augustus Storrs agreeing to make unrestricted conveyance. Because of doubt as to the Storrs title the commission instructed Mr. Miles to go to Colum- bia, accompanied by legal counsel, search the title to the Ticknor property and if found clear to enter into written agreement giving the State the right to purchase. The title was found clear and on December 17, 1885, the agreement was signed giving the State an option on the property until

July 1, 1886, at not more than $7,500. At a meeting in Hartford December 29, 1885, the commission voted to recommend the Ticknor property. In the meantime George M. Clark of the commission had prepared plans for a building to accommodate fifty students at a cost of $24,000. The plans were accepted at this meeting.

On January 13, 1886, the commission met at Hartford. Messrs. Brewster and Mead, who had been unable to attend the meeting at the Ticknor farm but had later visited it, were ready with objections. The vote on the Ticknor farm was reconsidered. Another meeting was held at Hartford, January 19, at which Brewster, Miles and Mead reported favorably on the Stephen Stearns farm in Mans- field three miles from Willimantic, and the commission voted in favor of buying it if it could be had for less than $8,000.

On March 18, 1886, Augustus Storrs presented the third and last deed to the property, this time without restrictions, and undertook measures to clear the title. As a matter of fact, however, the title was not cleared to the satisfaction of the State until later. : :

54 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

Under the heading "Why Have a State Agricultural School?" the commission dwelt at length on the rise and fall of Connecticut agriculture and the manifold advantages that might be derived from such a school. With a

rare perception of realities the commission added : "It may be said that it will be of equal value to each agricultural town to have within it some one capable of making the tables in the reports of the Experiment Station clearly comprehended." The most significant passage in this

bulky report, however, is as follows

AGRICULTURAL FUND

All discussion of the permanent establishment of a State Agricultural School practically involves a discussion of this fund. A recognition of this fact has led us to give a full history thereof, which may be found in the Appendix. It amounts to $135,000. Its income, amounting to $174,765.91, has been paid to the Sheffield Scientific School. No list of the graduates and other beneficiaries under the fund is accessible to the public, the reason given therefor being that to make such a list public is to point out to other students a class among themselves receiving aid, the effect whereof might be unpleasant to those pointed out. A study of the history of this fund, including the contract of the State with Yale

College, will point to three questions for solution, to wit : First, has the State the right to divert the income of the fund from Yale College? Second, if thus diverted, how and to what extent is it available for the purposes of a State Agricultural School? Third, is such diversion expedient? We present the facts but make no recommendation.

The actual recommendations of the commission were as follows

First: The abandonment of the premises now occupied at Mansfield. Second: The purchase of the Stearns farm. Third: The erection of the school building described herein.

These recommendations were never carried out. The report was dated February 2, 1886. In the meantime Simonds had been appointed to the Board of Trustees of the Storrs Agricultural School. THE STONE AGE AT STORRS 55

On April 22, 1886, less than three months after the presentation of the commission's report, the trustees voted to accept the deed of Augustus Storrs, dated March 18, 1886. Court action to clear title was taken at the expense of Augustus Storrs, in accordance with his proposal to the Agricultural Committee of the General Assembly.

Indicative of the rising cost of living, the report of 1886 lists the cost of board, washing and fuel at $3.52 a week.

The trustees' report of 1887 shows a new laboratory costing $7,000 and a new barn costing $3,000, gifts of the previous General Assembly, nearing completion. They were the result of what was apparently the first appropriation for buildings made by the State, although the row over title was not completely settled until the next year. The same report makes note of the passage of the Hatch Act in Congress, appropriating $15,000 a year to each state for agricultural experiments. The State had divided the fund equally between New Haven and Storrs. In 1889 the General Assembly appropriated $50,000 for new buildings. These were constructed in 1890. They were the Main Building, a frame structure torn down in 1929, and Gold Hall, burned in 1914. The latter provided a dormitory of thirty rooms. Agitation for a girls' dormitory was already under way. As evidence that Augustus Storrs had not lost interest in the school we find that in 1889 he remitted $30 water rent, the sum to be used in the purchase of books for the library, and in 1890 he gave up two acres of his fruit and vegetable garden to round out the site for a proposed new dormitory.

In June, 1891, completing the tenth year of the school, the graduating class numbered thirteen and the catalog showed sixty-three students enrolled. In the same year a well was bored eight hundred and fifty feet through rock to an abundant water supply, and a windmill, pump and tank were installed, the tank holding 15,000 gallons. The 56 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE well and the windmill, representing the first college-owned water supply, were later to provide a Roman holiday for the General Assembly.

A Federal Plum

During this period the stage was being set for the big battle over the Land Grant Act of 1862 and the Morrill Act of 1890. The original effort was to allocate to Storrs the benefits of the Morrill Act of 1890 without interfer- ing with the State's "perpetual contract" with Yale in reference to the Land Grant Act. However, the income from the Land Grant Act was only $6,750 a year and the income from the Morrill Act was $25,000 a year. Yale was unwilling to agree to a separation.

Yale, it was claimed, had struck the first blow when she sought to obtain for the Experiment Station at New Haven, then closely associated with Yale, all of the income from the Hatch Act of 1887. The storm had, however, been brewing for some time. In 1886 the Master of the State Grange had protested that Yale's entrance requirements virtually barred farm boys. Yale had never had a farm. A large part of the thunder came from outside the State, evidently a final rumble of the national Granger movement. Simonds was polishing up his war armor, the Granges were demanding action, the Board of Agricul- ture was divided, but there was a powerful sentiment among the farmers for moving on Hartford. Through it all there is little trace of agitation for the change emanating from the Storrs Agricultural School itself.

Apparently the roots of the movement were in a class conscious agriculture. In part it was a revolt against "classical" education. Whatever the forces operating toward the change, it was not actually a Yale- Storrs controversy. The battle was anti-Yale, not pro-Storrs. The THE STONE AGE AT STORRS 57 same phenomenon was repeated in other states where the Land Grant Act had been grafted on to privately endowed "classical" institutions. Dartmouth apparently gave up willingly, Brown not so willingly. In its larger implications the feud might be reported as "The National Grange vs. Classical Colleges." In Connecticut, however, it was and is known as the Yale-Storrs Controversy, and because it profoundly affected subsequent development of this institution considerable attention must be given to it here. CHAPTER III

THE YALE-STORRS CONTROVERSY

CONNECTICUT was the third state to accept the provisions of the Land Grant Act of 1862 and Yale became the first "agricultural and mechanical college" actually to operate under the terms of the act.

President Lincoln signed the Land Grant Act on July 2, 1862; and on December 24, 1862, Governor Buckingham approved an act of the Connecticut General Assembly, effective the day of its passage, accepting the terms of the national act. This act provided that the Governor be authorized to appoint a commission, not exceeding three members, to secure and make available to the State 'the provisions of the land grant. On May 11, 1863, a commission was appointed, consisting of Robbins Battell of Norfolk, Henry B. Harrison of New Haven and A. Homer Byington of Norfolk.

The commission carried out the duties entrusted to it.

Having accepted the federal act it devolved upon the State to name the institution which was to be the beneficiary. The federal funds were specifically provided for "endowment, support and maintenance," and Section 5 of the Land Grant Act stated definitely that "No portion of said fund, nor the interest thereon, shall be applied, directly or indirectly, under any pretense whatever, to the purchase, erection, preservation or repair Of any building or buildings." The implication was clear. The State had either to provide land and buildings or to make an arrangement with an existing institution. There is no doubt that the

State had Yale in mind when it accepted the terms of the Land Grant Act. Connecticut had no intention of building a new institution. THE YALE-STORRS CONTROVERSY 59

In 1860 Joseph R. Sheffield of New Haven provided an endowment of $160,000 for the "School of Applied Chem- istry," which had been established in 1846 by John Pitkin

Norton and Benjamin Silliman, Jr., and had become known as Yale Scientific School. The school soon after became the Sheffield Scientific School. Under the increased funds made available by this endowment the school began to

expand its activities and to take cognizance of the rising tide of manufacturing and of the mechanical industries.

The school still retained, however, a strong interest in agricultural science, from which it had sprung, and at the time the State accepted the Land Grant Act could reasonably lay claim to being both "agricultural and mechanical." On June 24, 1863, Governor Buckingham approved another act of the General Assembly, entitled : "An act appropriating the scrip for Public Lands granted to this State under the Act of Congress approved July 2, 1862." Relieved of legal phraseology, the essentials of this act were about as follows :

The Commissioner of the School Fund was to take

charge of the scrip, sell it and invest the proceeds in the manner prescribed by Congress. The Commissioner was to pay, semi-annually, the interest of the fund to the President and Fellows of Yale College. The Yale Cor- poration was to use the money exclusively for the maintenance in Sheffield Scientific School of such courses as would carry out the intent set forth in Section 4 of the Land Grant Act. Yale was to accept, free of tuition, a sufficient number of students, nominated by the State, to account for half the annual interest from the fund. The Yale Corporation was to make the reports required by Section 5 of the Land Grant Act. The Corporation was to contract with the State in writing to perform the required duties and obligations. The Governor, Lieu- tenant-governor, the three senior senators and the Secretary : : —

60 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

of the State Board of Education were to constitute a Board of Visitors which was to visit the school each year and report to the General Assembly on their findings.

The Contract With Yale

Shortly after the passage of this act, the Yale Corpora- tion authorized President Woolsey to execute a contract with the State. On September 3, 1863, the contract was signed by Theodore D. Woolsey on behalf of the President and Fellows of Yale College and by William A. Bucking- ham, Governor, on behalf of the State. The contract read as follows

The President and Fellows of Yale College, in New Haven, being a corporation duly established in the town and county of New Haven, hereby promise and agree to and with the State of Connecticut, as follows

First. Whereas, by virtue of a certain Act of Congress, entitled "An Act donating Public Lands to the several states and Territories which may provide Colleges for the benefit of Agriculture and the Mechanics Arts," the State of Connecticut has become entitled to certain land scrip ; and

Whereas, the said State, by an Act of its General Assembly, entitled "An Act appropriating Scrip for Public Lands granted to this State under the Act of Congress, approved July 2, 1862," has provided that the interest of the fund, which may result from the sale of said scrip, shall be paid semi-annually to said corporation, for the special purposes and upon the special conditions in said last-named Act of said General

Assembly set forth ; and

Whereas, said Act of said General Assembly imposes certain duties and obligations upon said corporation, as conditions upon which the payment of said interest, as aforesaid, is to depend:

Now, in consideration of the appropriation of said interest by said State to said corporation through said Act of the General Assembly, in the manner set forth in said Act, the said corporation agrees and con- tracts with said State to fulfill and perform all the duties and obligations imposed upon said corporation by said last-named Act.

Second. Especially said corporation agrees to devote said interest wholly and exclusively to the maintenance, in that department of Yale THE YALE-STORRS CONTROVERSY 61

College known as the "Sheffield Scientific School," of such courses of instruction as (including the courses of instruction already instituted in said school) shall carry out the intent of said Act of Congress in the manner specially prescribed in the fourth section of said Act; and said corporation agrees to furnish gratuitous education in said courses of instruction to pupils, citizens of this State, who shall be annually nominated to be pupils of said school, in such manner as the General Assembly shall prescribe. The number of which pupils to be so received gratuitously into said school shall be, in each year, such a number as would expend a sum equal to one-half of the said interest for the same year, in paying for their instruction in said school, if they were required to pay for it at the regular rates charged to other pupils of said school for the same year, which pupils shall be admitted into said school upon the same terms, and subject to the same rules and discipline which shall apply to all other pupils of said school, with the single exception that they shall not be required to pay anything for their instruction ; and said corporation agrees to make and distribute annually the reports required by the fourth paragraph of section fifth of said Act of Congress.

, In witness whereof, the said corporation, by Theodore D. Woolsey, its agent, hereunto especially authorized, hath hereto set its corporate name and seal at New Haven, this fourth day of August, A.D. 1863.

(Signed) President and Fellows of Yale College in New Haven, By Theodore D. Woolsey. In presence of H. C. Kingsley,

State of Connecticut, Executive Department,

Hartford, Sept. 3, 1863.

Approved: Wm, A. Buckingham, Governor. (Signed)

The Sheffield Scientific School began immediately to adjust itself to its new status as the land grant college of Connecticut. W. H. Brewer was induced to leave his work with the California Geologic Survey and to return to Yale as professor of agriculture, a position he held for thirty years, the life of the contract with the State. A three-year course in agriculture was opened, on examination, to students more than sixteen years of age and a seven months' short course, without examination, was 62 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE made available to young farmers who could not take the longer course. Examination of the early schedules for the full course reveals a decided stress on the languages, especially French and German. "The educated farmer should read them with ease," says a school report of 1865.

On July 6, 1864, was approved an act which empowered the Board of Visitors to select free students but required that preference should be given "to young men fitting themselves for agricultural, mechanical or manufacturing occupations, who are or shall be orphans of parents in naval or military service." The free scholarships were to be distributed so far as possible among counties in ratio of population, and the secretary of the school was to publish annually in at least one newspaper in each county the number of pupils entitled to be admitted and the terms of application.

There followed from time to time various acts concerning the investment and management of the Agricultural College Fund. The essential history of this legislation is given by Benjamin F. Andrews as follows:*

At first the State invested the capital of the 1862 land-grant fund in State bonds, but as these came due the fund remained in the State treasury without specific investment. The State legislature in 1905 (chapter 74) instructed the State treasurer to pay five per cent interest yearly on this capital, $135,000, without regard to the income derived from it; thus, it has become in fact a part of the irreducible State debt. The money is actually invested in notes secured by real estate within the State and brings less than five per cent to the State treasury. By the act of 1905 the income is fixed at $6,750 and goes to the Connecticut Agricultural College.

Criticism of Yale's "agricultural college" seems to have originated very early. Agricultural society reports as early as 1865 indicate as much. The stiffness of the entrance examinations, the stress on science and the languages in the regular agricultural course, the fact that

* Bulletin, 1918, No. 13, United States Bureau of Education. THE YALE-STORRS CONTROVERSY 63

Yale had no farm and had to depend upon excursions to farms outside New Haven, and most important the fact that Yale was a classical college and not a plain farm school, all give rise to occasional grumblings. The experience of Yale, however, was not unique. State institutions are necessarily subject to conflicting whims and opinions, and none of them have been more so than those institutions that have attempted to carry out the Land Grant Act. Early reports of the Sheffield Scientific School attempted to meet some of the criticism. Twenty years passed, however, before criticism attained crescendo volume. Under the circumstances, Yale seems to have borne the attacks with fortitude. The income from the Agricultural School Fund was limited, amounting at five percent to only $6,750 a year. Although under obligations to the State, Yale never received from the State during its thirty years of service any direct appropriation. Criticism of Yale as the land grant college of Connecticut began to assume ominous form, with the entrance on the scene of the Agricultural School Commission of 1885 and William Edgar Simonds. At that time the Storrs Agri- cultural School had been in progress four years and had serious troubles of its own. It was being widely criticised. Agitation for moving the school was widespread. Its future under State support was uncertain. At almost any time it might have died an inglorious death. Simonds may have estimated that the best defense is a vigorous offense.

The Hatch Act and the Grange

The immediate cause of the agitation for removing the land grant fund, usually referred to as the "Agricultural College Fund," from Yale, was the Hatch Act pending in Congress about this time and actually passed in 1887. This measure allocated a fund of $15,000 annually to each :

64 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE state for the support of agricultural experiment stations. Yale made a valiant fight to obtain all of this appropriation for the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, then directly associated with Yale. Chittenden, in his History of the Sheffield Scientific School, points out the fact that there was a national movement opposed to awarding any of the Hatch Act money to land grant colleges connected with classical institutions. The movement was by no means confined to Connecticut. Farm papers in other states were campaigning for the separation of agricultural colleges from classical colleges.

There is ample reason to believe that the movement centered in the National Grange. Whether Simonds took his cue from the Grange or whether in Connecticut the Grange followed Simonds' lead may be open to question, but both were active in opposition to Yale's participation in further federal funds. The Connecticut State Grange was reorganized June 24, 1885, at Hartford. Before even the formal organization had been completed, the following resolution was adopted

Whereas, The Storrs Agricultural School, having successfully passed the experimental period of four years,

Resolved, That the Order of the Patrons of Husbandry, realizing the importance of education for the farm, commend this institution as worthy of our patronage and protection.

In its second annual session, held at Hartford, December

7, 1886, Worthy Master J. H. Hale of Glastonbury launched the Yale-Storrs controversy. He presented figures to show that in twenty- four years Yale had graduated but seven students from the agricultural course at a cost of $180,000, or $25,700 each, and commented as follows:

Why is this? What is the trouble? Examine the catalogue of Yale College and note the requirements for admission to this department. The applicant must have a thorough knowledge of Latin as a leading requirement. Besides arithmetic and algebra, an intimate acquaintance is necessary of geometry and trigonometry "including the analytical :

THE YALE-STORRS CONTROVERSY 65 theory of the trigonometrical functions." How many farmers' boys have the time to fit themselves for such an examination as is here required? Not many, as is seen by the list of graduates, the requirements practically excluding ninety-nine of every hundred who expect to be farmers, for whose benefit this fund was intended.

After speaking at some length on the deficiencies of the course at Yale from the standpoint of farm education, Mr. Hale said

This money, or at least a large portion of it, should in future go to the Storrs School, the real Agricultural College of our State, and one where requirements of admission are not such as to exclude any good, bright farm boy of proper age. I trust this matter will receive your very careful consideration, and that such action will be taken as will result in arousing every Patron in the State to the importance of having this wrong righted by the Legislature of the coming winter, and at least two-thirds of this money appropriated to the Storrs School for a practical agricultural education. This can be accomplished if the grange will work and act together for the education of our farm boys. We might well demand that all of this money go to the Storrs School for the same time that Yale had it, but as the law specially mentions the teaching of "the mechanic arts," it will be well to leave one-third at Yale and let her do that branch of instruction.

The State law that donated that money to Yale College expressly states that they shall provide "such courses of instruction as shall carry out the intent of the act of Congress," and a careful study of that act clearly shows that the main object of appropriating that fund was that it should be used to provide for the teaching of "such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts," "in order to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes." Will not the Storrs School, with its thirty-four graduates in the past four years, be more likely to carry out the spirit of this law than Yale has done with her list of seven agricultural graduates in twenty-four years? Think of these things, Patrons, and then act for the right.

In the same address Mr. Hale referred to the report of the Educational Committee of the National Grange in reference to the Hatch Act and urged the Patrons in Con- necticut to take the matter up with their representatives in Congress.

Official recognition by the General Assembly of the campaign for taking the funds away from Yale and giving them to Storrs is contained in the following resolution :

66 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE which passed the House January 28, 1887, and the Senate February 8, 1887:

Resolved by this Assembly: First. That the Joint Standing Committee on the Judiciary is hereby instructed to examine the legislation by virtue of which the income of the Agricultural College Fund (so called) is paid to the corporation of Yale College, and to report whether or no the said legislation and action had by virtue thereof, binds the State of Connecticut in honor to continue the existing arrangements for the disposition of the income of the aforesaid fund.

Second. Should the conclusion be reached that the State is at liberty to make other disposition of the income of said fund than is now made, the Committee on Agriculture is hereby directed to inquire whether the said income as now expended realizes the objects for which it was appropriated by the Congress of the United States ; and, if not, what further legislation is needed to fully and fairly carry out the interest of said act of appropriation; and to report by bill or otherwise.

That Connecticut was not yet ready to interfere with Yale's right to the income from the Land Grant Fund is indicated by later action of the same General Assembly as follows

Resolved by the Assembly: That the Act entitled an Act appropriating scrip for Public Lands, granted to the State under the Act of Congress approved July second, 1862 (chapter 11 of the Public Acts of 1863) and the agreement of the President and Fellows of Yale College executed in accordance with the provisions of said act, together constitute a binding contract inviolably securing to said corporation the income of the fund provided for in said act, so long as said corporation shall continue on its part to comply with the terms and conditions of said contract. Approved April 25, 1887.

The controversy was settled for the time being by awarding half the income from the Hatch Act to the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station at New Haven and half to the newly created Storrs Agricultural Experiment Sta- tion. This was accomplished by a Resolution of the General Assembly, approved May 18, 1887. The Hatch Act had, however, awakened the public to the possibilities of the land grant college system. Here :

THE YALE-STORRS CONTROVERSY 67 was a federal appropriation more than doubling, in Con- necticut at least, the monetary income from the Land Grant Act. Agitation was also under way for further increasing federal aid to the colleges established under the original act.

The Hatch Act was itself the fruition of a movement for agricultural research that antedated even the movement for agricultural schools. Logically, agricultural science should have preceded agricultural education, and actually agricultural schools and colleges had very little exact knowledge to teach until agricultural experiment stations had developed a body of scientific information. The fact that the experiment station idea was not included in the Land Grant Act is often offered as another proof that the act was never intended to be solely in the interests of an improved agriculture. While the Hatch Act of 1887 had precipitated the national movement for divorcing the Land Grant Act from classical colleges, it was the Morrill Act of 1890, commonly referred to as the Second Morrill Act, which provided a prize worth fighting for. This measure appropriated $15,000 annually to each state, as a basic federal appropriation, the sum to be increased by $1,000 for each of the ten years following the passage of the act. While Con- necticut's income from the sale of land scrip was insignifi- cant, the Morrill Act offered an assured annual income of $25,000 in addition. In 1890, $25,000 looked much bigger to Yale than it would in 1931 and to the little

Storrs Agricultural School it represented affluence beyond comprehension. The campaign of the National Grange reached a climax in the report of its Committee on Education in 1892, which concludes

"If these records show anything, they plainly show that thus far none of the agricultural colleges which is connected with a classical institution has been successful in 68 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE imparting agricultural education and a portion of them have been most dismal failures, while on the other hand, the independent agricultural and mechanical colleges are, without exception, eminently successful."

Reviewing the history of this controversy in a paper prepared for a Grange meeting in 1898, Mr. Simonds quoted from an earlier address by Professor Atkinson of West Virginia, a leader in the Grange movement:

"Industrial colleges, to succeed, must be managed by men who are known to be in sympathy with the people who are to be benefited and can never succeed as a side show to a classical institution, any more than this progressive nineteenth century can live in the atmosphere of ancient Greece or Rome."

If the reader is still inclined to consider the events of 1893 as purely a domestic controversy between the friends of Yale and the friends of Storrs, he should make a study of the "Report of the Commission of Inquiry," published by a commission appointed in 1908 for a special examination of the Rhode Island College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts. The Rhode Island college was founded by act of its General Assembly, March 23, 1888, evidently for the express purpose of preventing the Hatch Act fund from falling into the hands of Brown, then the land grant college of Rhode Island. Brown had met the same type of criticism as had Yale, beginning as early as 1869, and as the law in that state restricted Brown's use of the land grant fund to scholarships, the college had gone so far as to offer to turn the money back to the state treasury when the Morrill Act of 1890 changed the outlook. Brown went to court to defend her right to the Morrill fund of 1890 but the case never went to trial and Brown accepted $40,000 in cash as damages.

There is evidence to show that Simonds' original plan was to allocate to the Storrs Agricultural School the funds Wm. Edgar Simonds Upper—Main Building, Erected in 1890, Torn Down in 1929. Loiver—Charles Lewis Beach Building, Completed in 1929. : :

THE YALE-STORRS CONTROVERSY 69 originating in the Morrill Act of 1890 and to leave Yale in undisputed possession of the income from the land scrip resulting from the Land Grant Act of 1862. Yale would not consent to this arrangement and contended, with justice, that the very title and content of the Morrill Act proved it to be an extension of the federal patronage contemplated in the Land Grant Act. The battle then resolved itself on both sides into a struggle for all or nothing.

Storrs Agricultural College

On April 21, 1893, just twelve years to a day from approval of the act creating the Storrs Agricultural School, there was approved an act of the General Assembly entitled

"An Act establishing the Storrs Agricultural College and providing for the distribution of money received from the United States for Educational purposes."

This act contained, in effect, the following provisions

The name of the Storrs Agricultural School was changed to Storrs Agricultural College and the new college was made the beneficiary of the Land Grant Act of 1862 and the Morrill Act of 1890. Yale was to report semi- annually under oath the number of students which had been admitted under the old agreement, and the State Treasurer was to pay to Yale twice the amount such pupils would pay at regular tuition rates, but no further nominations or appointments were to be made to Yale until and unless a new agreement was signed. In case of question of damages arising from the act, a jury of three commissioners, one selected by the General Assembly, one by Yale and one by mutual consent, or in the case of disagreement to be appointed by the chief justice of the supreme court, was to hear action for damages. If the decision was for Yale, the comptroller was authorized to pay the damages. :

70 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

The act was designed to avoid an apparent violation of the contract with Yale but to accomplish this by indirection.

This measure did not pass the General Assembly without protest. The debate opened in the Senate on March 29, 1893, not over the main issue but on a bill appropriating $10,000 to pay for the well which the trustees of the Storrs School had completed without legislative authority. The discussion soon switched from the well to the relative merits of the Sheffield Scientific School and the Storrs Agricultural School. A hot debate ended in the tabling of the bill.

The Hartford Courant of March 31, 1893, carried the headline: "Storrs School Bill Goes Booming Through." Underneath was an account of the struggle in the House of Representatives. The first few paragraphs of the account follow

Storrs School won its first battle hands down yesterday. For nearly four mortal hours, friends of Storrs and friends of Yale and friends of Yale and Storrs, pounded out the merits and demerits of the bill "Estab- lishing the Storrs Agricultural College and Providing for the Distribu- tion of Money Received from the United States for Education Purposes," the special order in the House. A four-hour debate is a trying one and there was a good deal that was trying in yesterday's session of the House, but there was more real merit and humor and force and persua- siveness in yesterday's speeches, taken as a whole, than in any previous session of the House. Some sharp things were said and one or two things that, in their broadness, detracted from the dignity and respecta- bility of the proceedings. Ladies were present in large numbers and the time for peculiar care in speech was taken as a time for peculiar carelessness.

On the whole the struggle was characterized by great good feeling and lightened by delicious humor, conscious and unconscious. J. Howard Hale, chairman of the committee on agriculture and champion of the measure, was "right in it." Mr. Wood made an unusually able argument against the bill. He pleaded for the honor of the state of Con- necticut as involved in its solemn contract with the scientific school and in setting forth the practical and legal obstructions in the way of the measure, made an argument that was not, and apparently, could not be answered. :

THE YALE-STORRS CONTROVERSY 71

It was hard to realize, when the vote was announced, that there had been any attack on the measure. The advocates of the bill were in the majority, more than four to one.

The Senate passed the bill on April 13, following a three- hour debate. Senator Fox offered an amendment to exclude girls from the school at Storrs, but the amendment lost, seventeen to three. The vote on the act itself was eighteen for to two against.

The Yale Defensive

On May 9, 1893, the President and Fellows of Yale College submitted a protest to the General Assembly- through its Joint Standing Committee on Agriculture. Yale refused to consent to the terms of the act, maintaining that they represented an infringement of the legal rights of Yale, were invalid as to law, and reflected on the honor of the State. Yale pointed to thirty years of "agreeable and harmonious" relations between the State and Yale and presented fifteen points of remonstrance. These points may be paraphrased briefly as follows

I That the Land Grant Act was not designed to establish schools of low grade but to endow and maintain colleges for higher education within the terms of the act.

II That the act of 1890 was for the more complete endowment and support of colleges already established under the act of 1862.

III That no portion of the funds under the act of 1862 may be used for purchase, erection or repair of buildings.

IV That the income from sale of scrip was utterly inadequate to establish a school, and such a school was made possible in Connecticut by the existence of the Sheffield Scientific School; that the Sheffield Scientific School as a national land grant college became entitled to the appropriation in the act of 1890 and up to this time it had been received.

V That the State in 1863 required Yale to sign a contract and that the Judiciary Committee in 1887 had unanimously held that this contract was binding and inviolable. 72 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

VI That Yale, in order to carry out its obligations to the State, had established a professorship of agriculture and professorships in botany and zoology, and had enlarged accommodations and equipment at an expense of more than $600,000.

VII That Yale had continued to expand its staff and facilities for carrying on this work.

VIII That, contrary to the experience of nearly all other states, Connecticut has never made the least expenditure. That Yale in the thirty-year period had incurred running expenses of more than one and a half millions of dollars and not a dollar had come from the State treasury.

IX That Yale had continued to interpret its contract liberally and to allow free scholarships in excess of the number called for in its contract.

X That the proportion of Connecticut's population engaged in mechanic arts was three to one as compared to those engaged in agriculture, that the mechanic arts courses were crowded, that ample facilities had been offered in agriculture with comparatively small demand, that the school had trained eighty-six students then engaged in agricultural pursuits and thirty-one in closely related pursuits.

XI That Yale University facilities, libraries, laboratories, gym- nasiums, etc., that would require millions for replacement, were accessible to the State students.

XII That two hundred and one students out of a total of five hundred and twenty-seven in Sheffield Scientific School were from Con- necticut, and that this was partly due to free scholarships under the additional appropriations of the act of 1890.

XIII That the funds of an institution of learning are trust funds and should not be subject to changing whims of legislative bodies.

XIV That the act of 1890 had made possible fifty-six free scholarships and the number would eventually reach eighty-three. Withdrawal of the funds would deprive many of these students of the opportunity of such education.

XV That for thirty years the work at Yale had been examined by the State's own Board of Visitors and that these reports attested to the fact that Yale had faithfully performed the duties of its contract.

The remonstrance was signed : The President and Fel- lows of Yale College, Timothy Dwight, President.

On August 10, 1893, Yale filed a Bill of Complaint in the Circuit Court of the United States, District of Con- THE YALE-STORRS CONTROVERSY 73 necticut, against Marvin H. Sanger, Treasurer of the State, asking that the Treasurer be commanded to pay to Yale

all the funds due under the acts of 1862 and 1893. Judge Shipman granted a temporary restraining order, preventing the Treasurer from paying any of the funds to Storrs until the case was decided. Bristol, Stoddard & Bristol and C. R. Ingersoll were Yale's counsel, while William

Edgar Simonds and E. Henry Hyde, Jr., were counsel for Storrs. There followed a long period in which the court reserved final judgment but the newspapers and the friends of Yale and Storrs continued to express conflicting viewpoints.

Yale based its case primarily on the Connecticut act of December 24, 1862, which had certified Yale to the federal government as the land grant college of Connecticut. Yale held that once a state had nominated an institution as beneficiary of the Federal act it ceased to have option in the matter, and that the institution thus became vested with direct rights which were subject only to a change in the original act. The contract which Yale had signed with the State was her second line of defense.

The State's counsel had plenty of answers to Yale's theory of vested rights in the Land Grant Act and through that to the funds resulting from the Morrill Act of 1890, but the signed contract was a difficult matter. It involved a point of honor as well as a legal obstacle. Had Yale broken her contract? The State held that she had done so in spirit, at least. To meet this charge, Yale referred her critics to the annual reports of the State's own Board of Visitors. A review of these annual reports discloses the strength of the Yale case.

The Board of Visitors, it will be remembered, was composed of the Governor, three senior senators and the Secretary of the State Board of Education. The first report was dated at New Haven, March 27, 1866, and was 74 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE signed by William A. Buckingham, Roger Averill, Edward

I. Sanford, Orlando T. Hodge, and Charles A. Atkins. Reports were filed annually thereafter. With the first report was submitted an historical sketch and a statement of plans, purposes and facilities, prepared by officers of the school. This sketch emphasizes the claim that Connecticut was the first state to put into actual operation the provisions of the Land Grant Act. Forty free State scholarships were announced in the first report.

The annual reports continued throughout to be compli- mentary, although in many instances the examination seems to have been more or less perfunctory. In 1877 the report indicates that there were only twenty-seven free scholarships. Some counties were not represented because of failure to make application, and scholarships were largely centered in New Haven County. This statement comes nearest to being a criticism of Yale's management of any found in the reports. Throughout most of the period Yale gratuitously granted three scholarships, at least, in addition to the nominations of the State.

The Report of the Board of Visitors for 1886 appended as usual a statement of the Governing Board of the Shef- field Scientific School. Under the heading, "Relations between the State of Connecticut and the Sheffield Scientific School," the Scientific School pronouncement recognized the controversy then under way and answered the report of the Joint Commission of 1885. It accused agricultural journals outside the state of having raised the issue. An elaborate defense of Yale's management of the land grant college was presented. Not without its irony is the fact that thirty-five years later Storrs, called upon to defend her stewardship against sharp criticism, issued statements which bear a strong resemblance to that of the Sheffield Scientific School.

The last Report of the Board of Visitors was in 1893. THE YALE-STORRS CONTROVERSY 75

Throughout the twenty-seven years of these reports Yale seems to have had the complete confidence and co-operation of the State's own Board of Visitors, and these reports constituted a strong defense of Yale's position that she had not violated the State contract.

The final decision of Judge Shipman in the United States Circuit Court was not satisfactory either to Yale or to the State. Judge Shipman held in effect that he had no power to order the interest from the Land Grant Act of 1862 or the annual income from the Morrill Act of 1890 to be paid to Yale, although he continued the restraining order which enjoined the Treasurer from paying the money to Storrs. Here was a deadlock that left both Yale and Storrs without the right to the federal funds. The General Assembly of 1893 had appropriated $40,000 provisionally to the Storrs Agricultural College for a two- year period, with the understanding that any money accru- ing from the federal funds during the period should be deducted from the appropriation. As the federal funds were tied up by injunction of the court, the State money had to be used; and there was a strong question as to whether the federal money, even if released, could be used to reimburse the State for all the money spent at Storrs. Mr. Simonds called attention to the technical difficulties involved in the use of land grant funds for such purposes as follows : "The line as to what Storrs may and may not spend this money for is drawn so strictly at Washington that Storrs may, with it, purchase a microscope, but it cannot with it purchase a table whereon to put it." The State eventually kept $20,000 of federal funds as reimbursement against this appropriation.

After the United States Court had handed down its decision, Yale turned to Section 10 of the State act of 1893, which created a commission to consider damages. Yale selected as its commissioner the Hon. Henry C. Robinson. 76 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

The General Assembly had already appointed by resolution, June 7, 1893, the Hon. Dwight Loomis. These two selected the Hon. John D. Park, former Chief Justice of Connecticut, as third commissioner. Yale's brief before the commissioners reviewed the entire Yale viewpoint from the beginning. Its essential features have already been given. Yale asked as damages the sum of $184,772.42. This represented $135,300 as the principal of the land grant fund, $10,472.42 accrued interest, $19,000 income from the Morrill Act for 1893 and $20,000 from the same act for 1894. The State's attorneys presented an able denial of Yale's claims to "vested rights." The 1862 grant was to states and not to colleges nominated by the states. The State had relinquished none of its authority. The State's act of April 21, 1893, did not of itself constitute a violation of the contract between Yale and the State. It was contended that Yale had not lived up to the terms of its contract in that she had not provided the type of instruction contemplated. The State had been generous with Yale. Under the acts of 1862, 1887, and 1890 the State had already paid to Yale sums aggregating $359,316.09. These were some of the contentions of the State's counsel in the hearings before the commission.

End of the Legal Controversy

Commissioners Loomis and Robinson were a majority and voted to award Yale damages in the sum of $154,604. Commissioner Park prepared a minority report which was against any damages for Yale. This report is perhaps one of the best answers to Yale's position that appears in the records. The State paid the stipulated damages to Yale, Yale ceased to take in State-nominated students, and the relations between Yale and the State came to an end. THE YALE-STORRS CONTROVERSY 77

Storrs was left in undisputed possession of the benefits of the Land Grant Act of 1862 and the Morrill Act of 1890. The case had been brought before the commission by Yale as a last resort after it became apparent that no relief could be obtained in the courts except after very long and expensive litigation, if at all. The decision of the commission was delivered January 20, 1896; and, soon after, the injunction against Treasurer Sanger, which still held in the United States Circuit Court, was dissolved. This ended the legal phase of the famous Yale-Storrs controversy, but did not end the ill-feeling that the long struggle had involved.

Throughout the controversy and for long after, newspapers and farm papers in this section continued to devote much space to the issues involved. Both Yale and Storrs had been harshly criticised and just as warmly defended.

It was the first great wave of publicity that the little school in the hills of Mansfield had ever experienced. The first result, naturally, was an awakened public interest and a new period of growth as a college in name if not in fact. That the lot of a land grant college is not necessarily a bed of roses and that the issues involved in the recent controversy were by no means settled was to become apparent in the course of years. : : —

CHAPTER IV

THE SPECTRE OF A "STATE UNIVERSITY"

WITH the passage of the act of 1893, creating the Storrs Agricultural College and transferring the federal funds from Yale to Storrs, the school began to grow rapidly and to burst out at the seams. The Yale-Storrs controversy had put Storrs in the headlines as nothing else could have done. This publicity, together with the change in the name from school to college, created an interest that had not previously existed. The trustees of the school were quick to take advantage of the new status of affairs. The Report of the Trustees of Storrs Agricultural College for 1893 says

The act of the last General Assembly in making a college of the Storrs Agricultural School has demanded enlargement and important changes in the course of instruction. A few professorships have been added and the time of the full course extended to four years.

The new departments of instruction, which have been established, are Horticulture, Veterinary Science, Military Drill, Wood and Iron Work, and Domestic Science. In addition, the facilities for instruction in all the departments hither-to taught have been materially increased.

The principal change made consists in the addition of a fourth year for more thorough instruction in special lines of study, and those who complete the course will be entitled to a degree ....

Following is given the "schedule of studies," printed in the same report, which represents the choice of subjects from which the student could select his course leading to a degree

First Year. Arithmetic, Grammar, Physical Geography, United States History, Penmanship, Elocution, Music, Military, Sewing, Physical Culture. THE SPECTRE OF A "STATE UNIVERSITY" 79

Second Year. Agriculture, Horticulture, Veterinary, Chemistry, Botany, Algebra, English, Penmanship, Draw- ing, Singing, Military, Sewing, Cooking, Physical Culture.

Third Year. Agriculture, Horticulture, English, Book- Keeping, Agricultural Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Botany, Physical Culture, Sewing, Cooking, Physics, Poli- tical Economy, Entomology, Geometry, Surveying, Mili- tary, Meteorology. Fourth Year. Horticulture, Agriculture, Veterinary, Landscape Gardening, Botany, Zoology, Physical Culture, Sewing, Cooking, Geology, Chemistry, Meteorology, Sci- ence of Government, English, Military, Sanitation.

Turning to the Report of the Trustees of the Storrs Agricultural College for 1894, we find this:

.... when our entrance examinations were completed last Septem- ber, the incoming class numbered fifty-nine, and we found ourselves with twenty-eight or thirty applicants more than our accommodations would receive.

After thoroughly canvassing the field, but two solutions offered themselves; either to reject the surplus numbers, for which we had no places, or make such changes in our dormitory and dining-rooms as would temporarily allow them to crowd in. The latter was adopted and all the single beds with but a couple of exceptions were removed from the dormitories and packed away in the attic, and at considerable expense a simple double folding bed v/as devised and placed in each room so that two might be accommodated in the rooms originally intended for but one; and for additional dining-room capacity, the quarters formerly occupied as kitchen were transformed into a dining- room, and the range and kitchen outfit transferred to the basement, and thus we are doing the best we can in crowded quarters, and under circumstances far from ideal, hoping that the early future will bring us the needed relief.

CO-EDUCATION AT STORRS

The act of 1893 opened the doors of the institution to women, partly by accepting the Morrill Act of 1890 and partly by the mere fact of not specifically barring them. :

80 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

An amendment to exclude girls had been defeated in the Senate. The report of the trustees for the same year indicates that twenty girls had in fact previously attended the Storrs Agricultural School, although there had never been any legal provision for such attendance. The Morrill Act of 1890, while not definitely espousing co-education, is generally construed as having paved the way for Domes- tic Science (Home Economics) in the land grant colleges, and the presence of women in these colleges is now generally accepted. In fact, Home Economics is now considered in most of them as being on a par with agriculture and mechanic arts. The status of the girl students at Storrs before the act of 1893 is brought out in an article in the New York Sun of September 8, 1901, as indicated by the following paragraphs

Prof. Koons is a graduate of Oberlin, a well-known co-educational institution. He married one of his fellow students* and is an enthusiastic advocate of co-education; so enthusiastic, in fact, that when he went to the Storrs School as its head he took it for granted that the institution was to be made co-educational. He did not apparently think of consulting the trustees as a board about the matter at all. One day the venerable T. S. Gold, then a member of the Board of Trustees, was going over the catalogue with one of the students. Mr. Gold is a Yale graduate and a man of broad scholarship and wide reading, though he is a farmer and has a small bunch of whiskers on the end of his chin that would make Grand Central Pete's mouth water could he set eyes on them. Mr. Gold has always had his own methods of investigation.

"Now," said Mr. Gold to the student, so the story runs, "what sort of a fellow is this man J. Doe whose name I see in the catalogue? Good bright sort of boy?"

!" "Boy exclaimed the student. "Boy ! Why, that's Jennie Doe, and she is a wonder."

The General Assembly of 1895 appropriated $12,000 for a girls' cottage, designed to accommodate the girl students and their teachers. It was the necessity of a location for

* This statement is declared inaccurate by a friend of the family. In fact the entire incident is open to question but has at least become legendary. THE SPECTRE OF A "STATE UNIVERSITY" 81 the combined dormitory and instruction building that caused the purchase by the State of the Crane Farm of one hundred and twenty-five acres, adjoining the college property on the south, at a price of $6,000, and which was to become a very important part of the campus proper. The new building, Grove Cottage, was dedicated September 8, 1896, and became a vital factor in the college life for many years. The position of women in the institution, however, remained doubtful in spite of either the act permitting their attendance or the allegedly pronounced interest of Presi- dent Koons in co-education. Considerable time elapsed before they entered into student activities on anything like an equal plane with the men. A student dance from which women students were barred seems paradoxical, but the following paragraph from the Storrs Agricultural College Lookout of December, 1896, describes one:

A "hop" was held in the college chapel Saturday evening, Nov. 28th. There being nothing else to do, a few of the neighbors were invited and amid dancing and games a very pleasant evening was passed. The young ladies of Grove Cottage were not allowed to attend, we know not why. It caused some rather bitter feeling between the students and our lady principal.

Demand for Mechanic Arts

In the Land Grant Act and in the Morrill Act of 1890 mechanic arts had been placed on a par with agriculture. The State acts of 1863 and 1893 had accepted the federal legislation without reservations. The Sheffield Scientific School had made much of this point in defending itself from charges of the agriculturists. There was apparently no interest, however, either in the administration at Storrs or in the General Assembly, for carrying out this provision of the federal act in any but a perfunctory way. A minimum of mechanic arts continued to be given to comply technically with the provision of the federal acts. That : :

82 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

there was even at that time a demand on the part of the students for more work in mechanics is indicated by several student petitions of the period. Some of the boys who were planning to return to the farm felt that not enough mechanic arts was taught even for the needs of a farm boy. A letter written to the president of the college by a member * of the senior class, sums up this viewpoint :

I came here for the purpose of becoming somewhat proficient in the "Mechanic Arts," as well as to learn something about the sciences connected with agriculture, but have been sadly disappointed so far. I believe that this crowding mechanics out of the courses as much as possible is proving a great detriment to the College. And I assure you I am not the only one who thinks so. In my opinion, mechanics will be far more useful to me in managing a farm than the instruction in agriculture to be given this winter By keeping informed on Experi- ment Station work one can keep increasing his knowledge of agriculture, but the opportunity for receiving practical instruction in mechanics, to be made useful on the farm, practically ends at the close of the College course.

The Lookout, May, 1899, contained the following comment

The Junior class are taking Mechanical Drawing this term under queer conditions. Drawing has no scheduled hour; but when there is no work, we draw; and when there is work, we work. There is no reason why there should not be a regular hour for drawing. The students think that Mechanical Drawing ranks above our so-called "instructive" labor. The Legislature of 1893 evidently thought so also, because when the college was instituted the following resolution was adopted "The Storrs Agricultural College is hereby established, and shall remain an institution for the education of youth whose parents are citizens of the state; and the leading objects of said college shall be, without excluding other scientific and classical studies, and including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning as relate to Agriculture and the Mechanical Arts." We fail to see whereby the Mechanical Arts are made a leading object of instruction.

The same article made much of the fact that students were still required to work three hours a day, largely at picking up stones on the college farm. The Lookout could

* Report of the Board of Trustees, 1899. :

THE SPECTRE OF A "STATE UNIVERSITY" 83

not believe that this was "instructive" labor, and thought the time had better be devoted to mechanic arts.

Athletics Replace Manual Labor

The demand for more work in mechanic arts, however, was not the only and probably not the chief reason for the revolt against the practice of picking up stones, that students from the earliest days of the Storrs School had been compelled to follow. Athletics were beginning to come into their own. Football, baseball and other teams were being organized, and these, with military training, furnished an outlet for the energies of the young men. It is doubtful whether picking rocks had ever been viewed with

great enthusiasm by the students at Storrs, but they did it

for nearly twenty years, perhaps largely because it was recognized as a Connecticut farm practice and therefore not considered to be out of place in an agricultural school. All great movements seem to inspire poetic utterance, and the rumblings against "instructive" labor came to a climax in a song, reprinted in the Lookout of May, 1899, and entitled "The Most Popular Song of the Day." The name of the author and the tune are not given but here are the verses

A freshman once did come to Storrs, As green as green could be, He went to walk in a nice white shirt To see what he could see, But when he saw the rocks that lay Scattered all over, he swore As a freshman sometimes will and said, I won't pick rocks any more.

Chorus I won't pick rocks any more I have picked for years On my father's farm and I won't pick rocks any more. 84 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

A sophomore then did come this way And saw where he did toil, A picking rocks for one long year On this old stony soil, And then he spoke as many will and As many have done before, I will either grade or plant, said he, I won't pick rocks any more.

Chorus : I won't pick rocks, etc.

A junior now we chance to see Who has been two years at work But when the gang is picking rocks He is always sure to shirk. If at any time he gets a chance To rest his back so sore He will lie down and sing this song I won't pick rocks any more.

Chorus : I won't pick rocks, etc.

A senior now we will surely meet Who looking over his course Thinks of the time spent picking rocks As either wasted or lost. x\nd as he looks at the field again He sees more rocks than before But he simply says, I am going to leave, I won't pick rocks any more.

Chorus : I won't pick rocks, etc.

The practice was abandoned soon after, but whether the

song contributed to its demise can only be conjectured.

With the passing of the old policy of manual labor, athletics began to improve. It may be somewhat humiliating to present-day students of the college to recall some of the baseball and football scores of the early period, but even at that time there seem to have been occasional flashes of brilliance. The Lookout for May 11, 1896, reviewed the history of the baseball team up to that time. It had defeated the Model School of Willimantic 15 to 14, and the : : :

THE SPECTRE OF A "STATE UNIVERSITY" 85

Willimantic High School 25 to 11. The Lookout for June 10, 1896, carried the following scores:

Storrs 9 Eagleville 12 June 6 Storrs 14 Eagleville 16 May 23 Storrs 42 Eagleville 2 May 30

The Lookout of August 10, however, indicated that Storrs had lost a game to the Willimantic High School by the score 11 to 17. "The ball game with the Alumni had to be given up because of the absence of John Atkins, '86."

The fall of 1896 saw the college launched on an ambitious football schedule which resulted as follows

Storrs 6 Rockville 6 Storrs 16 Willimantic (City) Oct. 17 Storrs 6 Willimantic 4 Oct. 24 Storrs Middletown H. S. 4 Oct. 31 Storrs Middletown H. S. 16

An alibi for failure to make a better showing in the game with Middletown High School is indicated in this : "The M. H. S. boys had an advantage in knowing the signals of the Storrs boys and also had one of Storrs' former players, who was captain of the Storrs team for two years."

The baseball record for 1897, as reported in the Lookout, was as follows

Storrs 13 Baltic 15 Storrs 8 Eagleville 7 Storrs 40 Willimantic 20 Storrs 18 Eagleville 27 Storrs 11 Willimantic H. S. 14

Track athletics also seem to have obtained a start about this time. The same issue of the Lookout carries the following information

We understand that an association has been formed between the New England State Colleges, to arrange a regular series of games in football, baseball and possibly track athletics .... : :

86 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

The first annual athletic meet of the New England Agricultural College Athletic Association was held at Willimantic.

Result : Mass. Agr. College 69 Storrs 39

The football season of 1897 as reported in the Lookout resulted as follows

Oct. 2 Storrs 4 Norwich Free Academy 12 Oct 6 Storrs 16 Young Men's League of Willimantic Oct. 9 Storrs 8 New London Athletic Club 10 Storrs 16 Willimantic H. S. 4 Oct 23 Storrs 24 Rhode Island 10 (Played at New London.) Nov. 6 Storrs Mass. Agri. College 36 (Played at Amherst.)

That some of the present-day rivalries are deep rooted is indicated in the following paragraphs from the Lookout, October, 1897:

Although the Storrs team cannot defeat the Amherst boys at football, they can show them hospitality and treat them as gentlemen, which is more than our team received at their hands . . .

The victory of the S. A. C. football team over the Rhode Island eleven was appropriately celebrated by a parade headed by the band, bon-fires and ringing of all the bells.

The football team of 1898, however, seems to have plumbed the depths, if the following scores are any indication Storrs Norwich Free Academy 43 Storrs Willimantic H. S. 29

Athletics were hardly considered dignified for girls, but by 1901 the Board of Trustees reported proudly that the girls' basketball team for 1900-1901 was undefeated.

The Rise of Fraternities and Groups

Fraternities got an early start at the Storrs School. They were, in large measure, an outgrowth of various :

THE SPECTRE OF A "STATE UNIVERSITY" 87 attempts during the eighties to form clubs or other groups within the student body. Volume 1, No. 1, May 11, 1896, of the Storrs Agricultural College Lookout carries a history of the college Shakespearean Club written by Olcott F. King and R. D. Gilbert. The following section, taking into account some of the early efforts to found literary, social or debating groups, probably represents a fair history of the beginnings of the present system of fraternity and group organizations at Storrs

During the year 1888 the students of Storrs Agricultural School, feeling a desire for, and the need of a literary organization, formed the first literary society of the school.

This was valuable for its debates and other literary work. However, after its founder left Storrs the remaining members lost their interest in the club and finally in the spring of 1893 it disbanded. But this had given the students a taste for a higher class of literature, and the following fall measures were taken to establish literary societies.

The subject was discussed pro and con and finally by the advice of the instructors three societies were organized,—The Eclectic Society, The Ionian Society for the young ladies, and the Storrs Agricultural College Club.

For the remainder of that year the societies worked in friendly rivalry. Each gave an open meeting in the college chapel once a term and at the end of the year a marked advance was noticed in the ability of the students in expressing thought. They had learned how to preside at meetings, put motions and carry on other Club business in a parlia- mentary way.

At the opening of the next school year the Ionian Society joined the Eclectic, which still survives.

At a meeting of the S. A. C. club, April 28, '94, the Constitution of the Massachusetts Agricultural College Shakespearean Club was read, and adopted by the club, so that they became an associate Shakespearean club with fourteen members and S. H. Buell as their president.

A debating club was organized, under the name of The Storrs Agricultural College Debating Club, on April 9, 1897, with five charter members. :

88 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

The Catalog for 1899 gives a complete list of college organizations existing at that time, including athletic, literary and social clubs

Eclectic Literary Society

This society holds weekly meetings for the purpose of improvement in writing and speaking. Orginal papers, declamations, and ex tempore debates are the principal features of its regular programs.

Alethia Society

This society is composed of young women, for literary improvement, and offers a weekly program of readings, essays, criticisms, and social functions.

College Shakespearean Club

This club, like the above, has for its object the mental culture of its members. Weekly programs of declamations, essays, and debates afford an ample field for the exercise of literary ability and oratorical genius.

C. A. C. Natural History Society

This scientific society was organized February 25, 1898, and is composed of faculty and students, for the furtherance of study in Natural History. The members usually meet bi-monthly.

The Young Men's Christian Association

The Young Men's Christian Association is organized by the students for the promotion of Christian fellowship among its members, and for the purpose of raising a higher standard of manhood among all students.

Young Women's Christian Association College Paper. C. A. C Lookout (published monthly). Student's Organization Students' Council C. A. C. Athletic Association Football Team '99 Baseball Team '99 Polo Team '99 Military Organization Alumni Association

Arthur J. Pierpont, '95, President Charles R. Green, '95, Secretary M. Hibbard Parker, '93, Treasurer One vice-president is elected from each class upon graduation. :

the spectre of a "state university" 89

Student Life at the Turn of the Century

Much was made in the early literature of the absence of contaminating or distracting influences at Storrs. Willi- mantic was eight miles away and in the nineties that meant eight miles of winding dirt road. "Hitch-hiking," or "bumming rides," was virtually an unknown art in the horse and buggy days. Eagleville was the nearest railroad point and the two and a half miles to the station were either made on foot or by college teams. Week-ends away from Storrs were naturally the exception instead of the rule.

Thrown back on itself for amusement the community often proved its versatility. The late nineties were the halcyon days of student pranks but discipline was strict and both courage and ingenuity were required for such stunts as transporting a bull from the dairy barn to an upper dormitory floor or lowering a fat hog through a transom into the chapel. Military training and discipline were in vogue, but it was not until 1902 that the military uniform was required at all times except as the commandant might direct. The few young women were in charge of a "Lady Principal" and subject to all of the conventions that hedged in their sex during the "gay nineties." Publication of a picture showing a young woman on a sled with a group of boys brought editorial criticism from a leading newspaper. Lecture courses had been established in the eighties and continued to prove popular. An occasional concert helped enliven these winter lecture courses. An issue of the Lookout for 1897 indicated that a number of students had attended "a recent opera, which was held at the old school house at Four Corners." The Hartford Courant of March 2, 1893, gives this bit of information concerning a lecture course

Dr. Noah Cressy of Hartford gave a lecture in the winter course of Storrs School Friday night on "Vertebrate Morphology," or man's rela- 90 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE tion to the lower animals. The lecturer brought out to the school a fine mounted skeleton of the lion to illustrate his talk, and after he had finished, to the great surprise of all, presented the skeleton to the school. It will be remembered that the doctor gave the school about one hundred valuable books last fall.

The next lecture in the course will be given by Judge Coe of Meriden to-morrow night on "The Dairy Interests of the State."

Members of the faculty continued to live in the dormitory sections of Whitney and Gold Halls or in odd corners of other buildings. Cramped quarters and insufficient privacy resulted in occasional bickerings and unrest on the part of both students and faculty. Much had been made in the early prospectuses of the "family life" of the institution and of the advantages of close association of students and teachers. The first move to change this close association came in 1896 but the motive was probably as much to conserve dormitory space as to allow more freedom in the lives of faculty and students. The first faculty residence was the "Peebles Cottage," erected in 1897 and now occupied by Prof. Gentry. Cottage No. 2 was erected in 1898 near the present site of Koons Hall. It was later moved and is now the residence of Mr. Beach. Cottage No. 3 was erected in 1898 and Faculty Row was established. T. S. Gold expressed regret, about 1900, that wood had been replaced by coal as a source of fuel. Cutting firewood had furnished a source of income to students of limited means and had supplied the winter equivalent of removing stones from the college farm. Manual labor was distinctly going out.

Along with the new interest in athletics there was growing up a movement of class rivalry. Evidently the first example of contests between classes came with the "horse fight." The senior class in veterinary medicine was called upon each year to dissect a horse, a decrepit animal being purchased for the purpose. One year a group of juniors undertook to take the horse away from the seniors as he :

THE SPECTRE OF A "STATE UNIVERSITY" 91 was being led to slaughter. The event became an annual affair, in which the horse usually got the worst of the battle. Soon after 1900 traditional class rivalry shifted to the sophomore and freshman classes and the "cannon rush" was instituted. This amounted to a free-for-all fight and was so productive of injuries that it gradually gave way to the "rope pull." The report of the Board of Trustees for 1901 gives some interesting glimpses of expenses and living conditions of the students during the period. The college furnished free tuition and free room rent. Each room contained a bed, mattress, table, washstand, bureau and chair. Additional furniture had to be supplied by the students. Here is a list of some of the "necessary articles" which the student was expected to furnish

One lamp, one oil can, one broom, one dust-pan, one washbowl and pitcher, one looking-glass, one slop-pail, six towels, three sheets for double bed,—these can be used on a single bed,—3 pillow cases, pillows and the blankets or comfortables to which he has been accustomed. It is advisable for students to bring from home such things as pictures, curtains, and rugs or carpets, with which to make their rooms cheerful and homelike. The students provide themselves with kerosene oil at the village store.

The list of necessary articles for the young lady students was quite similar to this except that a rocking chair was recommended in addition. The college furnished fuel, books and stationery at cost, the charge for heat being about $16.00 a year. Board was furnished at a cost of $2.75 a week.

The following excerpts from the same report will indicate how efficiently the college looked after the moral interests of the student body:

Attendance upon a vesper service in College Hall each week day except Saturday and Sunday, and attendance upon a religious service on Sunday, are required of all students, except upon written petition to the contrary from a parent or guardian filed at the president's office, or except upon a presentation of some other good reason. The chapel :

92 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE services are non-sectarian, and devoted to topics relating to public and private morals, or to the welfare of the College and student body.

Most of the students prefer to attend a neighboring Congregational Church, which has assigned desirable seats for their use; and the cadets who choose to attend this church march there Sunday mornings and sit in a body, when ordered to do so by the Commandant. This is the church attended by most of the college faculty.

The use of tobacco on the campus is forbidden.

It should go without saying that such gross offenses as lying, stealing, drinking intoxicating liquors, or bringing upon the college grounds any fermented or intoxicating liquors are punishable by the summary expul- sion of the student found guilty.

The discharge of firearms in or about the dormitories or elsewhere upon the campus, except by order of the Commandant, is prohibited.

Ball-playing and snow-balling are not permitted within a hundred feet of any College building.

The Lady Principal and young women at Grove Cottage hold a reception the third Friday evening of each month during term time. Dancing is permitted, and other forms of pleasant amusement. These receptions close at ten o'clock.

The young men are permitted to call at Grove Cottage at times fixed by the Lady Principal.

In the Catalog of 1900 was printed the following summary of students graduated up to that time and their occupations

Whole number of students graduated up to 1900, one hundred and sixty-six, of whom twelve are women.

Farmers 65 Salesmen 8 Manufacturers 8 Clerks 10

In Trade 4 Dentist 1

Buffer 1 Signal Service 1

Express Agent 1 Electricians 2

Lawyers 2 Civil Engineer 1

Veterinary Surgeons 3 Lecturer 1

Medicine 1 Liveryman 1

R. E. Dealer and Broker .... 1 Soldiers 2

Bookkeepers 5 Nurse 1 Teachers 12 Students 4 Mechanic 1 Housekeepers 5 in

Pi the spectre of a "state university" 93

The Spanish-American War

In the spring of of 1898 the campus of the little college in the Mansfield hills was stirred by news of war. In April came the declaration of hostilities against Spain. Scarcely a fortnight later the country was electrified by news of Dewey's victory at Manila.

With enthusiasm the young men of America rushed to the recruiting stations. Military training, formerly an irksome duty at Storrs, began to take on new significance, and the Lookout published pictures of the cadet company, resplendent in its new blue uniforms. Four seniors from the small graduating class went almost directly from school to camp and five of the more recent alumni joined them.

In August, 1898, the Lookout listed the sons of Storrs '89 in military service : —F. A. McKenzie, signal corps at '91 Camp Jackson, Fla. ; —A. H. Griswold, second sergeant, Co. I, 1st Reg. U. S. V.; '94—Walter Shultz private in a Wisconsin regiment; '95—George R. Hall private, Co. F, 1st Reg.; '97—F. N. Buell, private, Co. H '98—C. S. Chapman, sergeant, Co. H, 3d Reg., U. S. V. C. S. Francis, quartermaster sergeant, Co. H, 3d Reg. W. N. Hawley, orderly sergeant, Co. H, 3d Reg., U. S. V. Herbert Kirkpatrick, second sergeant, Co. H, 3d Reg., U. S. V.

The record of this group in concentration camps in America was typical of Spanish-American War history. Typhoid fever and not Spanish bayonets was the principal hazard of war. Several of the boys from the college came down with typhoid fever, and on November 19, 1898, First Sergeant Willis Nichols Hawley, Company H, Third Con- necticut Volunteer Infantry, died of the disease at the Red Cross Hospital in Philadelphia. The death of young Hawley overshadowed on the Storrs campus other events of the war. In September he had 94 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE spent a week's furlough visiting friends at the college He typified in the minds of students and faculty alike the highest standards of young American manhood, and his sacrifice was all the more appalling because it represented vicissitudes of war far removed from the battlefields.

Willis Nichols Hawley was born at Hawleyville, August

9, 1875. He came from an old Connecticut family. He spent three years at Newtown Academy and entered Storrs Agricultural College in the fall of 1895. Quiet and unas- suming, he was nevertheless an excellent student and mod- erately active in student affairs. As right end on the football team he was known as a hard tackier and depend- able at all times. He was a member of the Shakespearean Club. He seems to have shown a special aptitude for military training and was first lieutenant of the cadet company. He was graduated in the class of 1898 and entered service within a short time after graduation.

Hawley Armory on the Storrs campus was so named in memory of this boy from the class of 1898 who died in the service of his country.

"Connecticut" Replaces "Storrs"

The school continued to grow and expand. The alumni were becoming vocal and were demanding representation on the Board of Trustees. The revolt against manual labor on the college farm was coming to a successful head. The faculty was being strengthened and there was a growing demand for a change in the name of the institution to identify it more closely with the State. There evidently was a feeling that better appropriations and a more general knowledge of the nature of the institution would result if the name "Storrs" gave way to "Connecticut." There was no thought at this time of dropping the word "agricultural." : :

THE SPECTRE OF A "STATE UNIVERSITY" 95

The institution was striving desperately even in this period to be a college instead of a plain farm school. Even T. S. Gold, that staunch friend of agriculture, evidently felt that there was danger of the school remaining too narrow in its influence. As secretary of the Board of Trustees he signed a report in 1897 that contained these passages

.... We notice that in the classification of State expenses, normal schools and other public schools are classed under Education, but appropriations for Storrs College are classed under expenses for Agriculture. This arises from a misapprehension of the design and purpose of the Storrs Agricultural College, and seems to sustain and perpetuate false ideas concerning it.

It is often asked, "How many of your Storrs' students or graduates of other agricultural colleges go on to farms to apply their knowledge in practice?" This question is answered that all do not, neither should we expect it. Storrs College does not confine its education solely to the practical work of the farm ....

But, if the institution chafed under a too limited agricultural interpretation, there were those who saw in the ambitions at Storrs that most dread of New England educational spectres, a state university. A New Haven cor- respondent of the New York Herald, writing under the pen name of "Trumbull," concluded an attack on the Storrs institution in the issue of April 11, 1897, with the following bomb:

"The logic of the school, if encouraged, will fasten upon

Connecticut a State University, for which it has no use,

and which it cannot afford to maintain."

During the General Assembly of 1899 the name of the institution was again changed, this time to that of the Con- necticut Agricultural College. This act read as follows 96 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

(Public Acts of the State of Connecticut, January Session, 1899) AN ACT CHANGING THE NAME OF STORRS AGRICUL- TURAL COLLEGE

Section 1. The name of the Storrs Agricultural College is hereby- changed to that of the Connecticut Agricultural College, and said College, shall, under said new name, have, own, and enjoy all property and rights of said Storrs Agricultural College, and shall be subject to all laws applicable to said Storrs Agricultural College, and the management of said college shall continue as at present until changed by proper authority.

Sec. 2. Whenever a library building shall be erected upon the grounds of said college, such library shall be named the "Storrs Memorial Library"* and shall bear that name conspicuously both exteriorly and interiorly.

Sec. 3. There shall be a trustee of the Connecticut Agricultural College in addition to those now provided by law who shall be elected for a term of four years from July first next succeeding his election by and from the graduates of said institution; the election to be under the supervision of the trustees for the time being, and to be so conducted that all graduates shall have opportunity to vote therein by signed ballots deposited personally or by letter.

Sec. 4. This act shall take effect from its passage.

Approved, June 14, 1899.

* This provision was amended somewhat in 1905 so as to permit a private donor to name the library, but the requirement still stands that any library to be built by the State for the college shall be known as the Storrs Memorial Library. CHAPTER V

"THE WAR OF THE REBELLION"

ON July 1, 1898, George W. Flint of Collinsville succeeded Professor B. F. Koons as president of the Storrs Agricultural College. Koons had begun his connection with the Storrs Agri- cultural School as Professor of Natural History in the fall of 1881. He became principal in 1883 and was given the title of president when the Storrs Agricultural College replaced the old Storrs Agricultural School. In these years Professor Koons had stamped his personality on the institution and endeared himself to alumni and intimate friends of the college. The action of the Board of Trus- tees in removing him from the presidency was generally attributed to the influence of William Edgar Simonds, who had already aroused some opposition in the institution and throughout the State because of his aggressive management of the institution. Professor Koons was retained as Professor of Natural Science. His removal as president of the college could not help but be unpopular with many persons who had come under his influence. The change proved to be the first of a series of events which challenged the leadership of Simonds in the affairs of the institution at Storrs. The years from 1898 to 1901 were the most trying period in the history of Storrs. With them came a wave of publicity such as the institution had never experienced even in the height of the Yale-Storrs controversy. This period was referred to facetiously at the time by certain members of the Storrs staff as "The War of the Rebellion." President Flint had graduated from Bates College in 1871, as salutatorian of his class, and before coming to ;

98 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

Connecticut had been connected with educational institutions in New Hampshire and Maine. He was born in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, March 2, 1844. For practically a quarter of a century before coming to Storrs he had been connected with the Collinsville schools a considerable part of the time as principal of the Collins- ville High School. There seems no question that he had made an excellent record at Collinsville, and throughout the troubles that were to come later residents of that place remained loyal to him and were somewhat mystified by the turn of events.

The Flint administration began auspiciously. The first General Assembly to meet after his election as president changed the name of the institution to the Connecticut Agricultural College. The first brick building of any consequence at Storrs was constructed during the early years of his regime. This structure is now a section of the Dairy Building, but was originally known as Agricultural Hall. This Hall, designed and constructed under the supervision of Professor H. S. Patterson, was built of stone and brick, was sixty by forty feet, three stories high, contained a creamery, and was to be devoted exclusively to "agriculture, dairying and veterinary science."

Causes of the "Rebellion"

It is difficult to analyze properly the motives and circumstances that entered into the "War of the Rebellion." President Flint had been in office but a short time when he came into collision with certain members of the faculty. Opposition throughout the State began to increase as it became apparent from recurring reports from Storrs that President Flint was more interested in classical education than in agriculture. The president could and did quote quantities of Latin, Greek and Old English, and the cata- ; ; : ;

"THE WAR OF THE REBELLION" 99 logs of his administration were embellished with quotations from the classics. He had his own very definite ideas as to the type of instruction needed at Storrs, and these dif- ferred almost completely from those of the exponents of an intensely practical farm school. He has been alternately criticised as a very strict and a very loose disciplinarian. His own personal and private integrity were not questioned even by his most violent critics. A number of factors entered into the public controversy. Some of the principal ones may be stated as follows

(1) Unrest of the faculty and students because of alleged autocratic administration (2) President Flint's inclination toward classical education as opposed to the views of the Grange, the agricultural societies and the farm school group (3) A growing opposition both at Storrs and throughout the State to the leadership of William Edgar Simonds (4) A natural hangover from the Yale- Storrs contro-

versy ; (5) The fact that Connecticut had accepted but did not understand or was not in sympathy with the Land Grant Act.

No one of these factors would be sufficient in itself, perhaps, to explain why New York, Boston, Springfield and other newspapers outside the State, as well as the leading papers in Connecticut, should print many columns of matter, much of it trivial and probably little of it accurate, as to the situation at Storrs. It is true that a considerable amount of the New York and Boston newspaper correspondence originated in New Haven and was patently an effort of certain patriotic Yale alumni to take advantage of the trouble at Storrs to pay back the State and its institution for the indignity which Yale had suffered in the controversy culminating in 1893. By far the most interest- WGH SCHOOL UdHAKY

mmnCHt CONNECTICUT :

100 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE ing of the many newspaper accounts of the period was one occupying several columns in the New York Sun of Sep- tember 8, 1901, written by Lindsay Denison of the 1895 class at Yale. This story entitled "Row over Farmers' College" summed up the widely divergent viewpoints concerning the institution from its beginning. The opening paragraph of this remarkable news story may perhaps be accepted as the best explanation of the controversy of the Flint administration

"The land grant college system is on trial in the State of Connecticut just now. It is on trial for life in so far as the system is represented by the Connecticut Agricultural

College at Storrs. It is true beyond all question that the

college, as it is, does not satisfy those who as taxpayers bear the burden of the state's share in paying for the institution."

The War is On

The opening hostilities of the "War of the Rebellion" came with faculty dissension. President Flint found a small but able and headstrong faculty when he came to Storrs. Under the kindly reign of President Koons the staff had become accustomed to a high degree of freedom, and there is every reason to believe that it was partly because the Board of Trustees felt that a firmer hand was needed at the wheel that President Flint was installed. In the clash between the president and his faculty the Board of Trustees stood loyally behind Flint. The Hartford Courant of June 14, 1900, ends a discussion of commencement activities at Storrs with the following paragraph:

There is a good deal of commotion among the faculty and trustees. Already four of the faculty have voluntarily resigned. It is reported that at the next meeting of the board of trustees one or two will be asked to resign. This meeting, it is said, will be held in Hartford tomorrow or the first Tuesday in July. There are various rumors as to the coming changes. There is talk that among those to go will be :

"THE WAR OF THE REBELLION" 101

Professor A. B. Peebles, Mr. Phelps and Mr. Ballou. Mr. Monteith of Unionville, it is understood, will come to fill the place of Miss Barker, resigned. The alumni banquet tonight passed off very pleasantly.

Many of the most prominent members of the staff left Storrs, either voluntarily or through forced retirement, because of difficulties with the administration, and some of these professors had entrenched themselves quite strongly in the State.

Perhaps the first direct action in the controversy outside of Storrs came at the meeting of the Connecticut Pomological Society, August 22, 1901, held in the Con- necticut Valley Orchard at Berlin, where two hundred farmers were present and adopted resolutions demanding a housecleaning at Storrs. The New England Homestead in an issue during August, 1901, reported the meeting as follows

Several speeches favoring the resolution were made, chief of which was one by H. T. Morse of Shelton, who said the conditions at the college were a disgrace to the state. He had heard many farmers say they never would send a son to Storrs. He had had a son there himself, and from the things his boy wrote him he said he decided to go to the college and investigate. He and Mrs. Morse paid a visit to Storrs. He found the halls lined by boys smoking and chewing tobacco. The floors were so filthy that Mrs. Morse had to lift her skirts in passing. There was no discipline, he said, the boys being allowed to smoke, chew, swear and drink.

The attitude of the officials toward the teaching of farming, Morse said, was to slight it for other branches. As the discussion proceeded, the resolution was made stronger by amendment, and as finally agreed upon and adopted it was made to' express the disapproval of the Connecticut Pomological Society and "all farmers present" of affairs of the college. It expresses the belief that the only remedy to be efficient is the removal of President Flint, or the acceptance of his resignation, and it "hereby calls on the trustees of the college for immediate action."

The resolution expresses the belief that there should be a more efficient agricultural college in the state. At a recent meeting of the trustees a resolution calling for the resignation of President Flint was rejected by a vote of 3 to 2. By the same vote several of the instructors who' have been opposed to the president were discharged. :::

102 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

The Grange followed closely the lead of the Pomological Society. In fact the Grange had unofficially entered the arena in advance of the Berlin meeting. The Hartford Times of July 27, 1901, reported a meeting of Excelsior Pomona Grange, held in the town of Prospect, as follows

The affairs of the college were discussed and finally it was decided that the advantages derived from the maintenance of the institution were in no sense proportionate to its expenses. All in all the Storrs institution came in for a rather severe criticism at the meeting of the grange.

The State Grange met in August, soon after the session of the Pomological Society, and the affairs of the college were thoroughly aired. State Master B. C. Patterson, a member of the college trustees, who had stood with Simonds and Flint during the controversy, presented his resignation as Master of the Grange. The resignation was laid on the table but the following resolutions, taken from the Hartford Courant, August 30, 1901, were passed

Whereas, the 12,000 organized farmers and their families of Connecticut, as represented by the State Grange, always deeply interested in the advancement of agriculture through the means of scientific education in every branch of the profession, have from the organization of the Storrs Agricultural School been loyal to the institution and aided in every way its final development into the Connecticut Agricul- ural College, and,

Whereas, They have hoped and trusted that through its inspiring influence great good would come to every agricultural interest of our state, the possibilities of which are fast becoming appreciated by those who are awake to modern specialized agriculture, which has its best opportunities and markets close to the home of the Connecticut farmers, and,

Whereas, the present executive head of the college, a thoroughly good man in every way, yet apparently unfitted by inclination, education and training to inspire the students in an agricultural college, has so failed to attract students or inspire the farmers of the state with confidence in his administration, and there appears to be an almost universal demand that our college of agriculture be made a success therefore be it :

"THE WAR OF THE REBELLION" 103

Resolved, By the executive committee of Connecticut State Grange, that we call upon the trustees of the Connecticut Agricultural College to meet promptly and take such action as will secure the resignation of President Flint, and offer to the people of the state some hope for the future of our college. Resolved, While we cannot approve the action of our associate member, Brother B. C. Patterson, as trustee of the Connecticut Agricul- tural College, at the last meeting of the board of trustees, long and intimate acquaintance with the man gives us faith in his integrity, and we believe, now that he has heard so fully and plainly from the leading farmers all over the state, he will be prompt to right any wrong he may have helped to perpetrate at the college, and we call upon him so to do at the earliest possible moment.

O. S. Wood,

J. H. Hale, F. H. Potter, H. E. Loomis, Executive Committee.

Persons interested in pushing the controversy sent to students and alumni blank petitions demanding the resignation of President Flint. This movement evidently originated in Waterbury, but does not seem to have been otherwise identified. Following the action of the Pomological Society and the resolutions of the Grange, the newspaper campaign became intensified. An interesting sidelight on the whole affair was a controversy which raged between the Hartford and New Haven papers. The Hartford Times, especially, espoused the cause of Storrs. About the same time there was a controversy between Hartford and New Haven over the project for the East Hartford Bridge, and there is a suspicion that the very violence of New Haven newspapers in attacking Storrs did considerable to align the Hartford papers in its defense.

The Hartford Times said

The New Haven Register will be satisfied with nothing less than the abolition of the Agricultural College. Does it wish the State of Connecticut to advertise itself as the only State in the Union which lacks the capacity to administer such an institution? : —

104 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

The "war" was at its height as the new school year drew near. Entrance examinations had been held annually at Danbury, Hartford, New Haven and Norwich. The New Haven correspondents derived great satisfaction from attending the examinations held in that city and reporting the failure of a single applicant to appear. Evidently the same situation was true throughout the State, as indicated by the following from the Hartford Courant of September

1, 1901

Affairs of the Connecticut Agricultural college are fast reaching a crisis. From the various places for holding entrance examinations Friday and Saturday—Danbury, Hartford, New Haven and Norwich the returns are that not a candidate for admission appeared, while at the college itself Saturday, only one was reported. In New Haven at the experiment station rooms, Professor Jenkins of the board of trustees and Professor Charles Wheeler of the college had made preparations to receive any number that might appear, but they had their

labor for their pains, as here and elsewhere. As the college is a state institution, this condition brings the situation very close home to every taxpayer in Connecticut.

The trustees of the college met at the Capitol, October 5, 1901, with all members present. Simonds made a last stand for President Flint, but at last the opposition won, and the resignation of President Flint was demanded. A proposal to give him a professorship, as had been done in the case of former President Koons, was denied. The board, however, voted to pay President Flint his salary until the following July, the rulings of the board providing only three months' salary in such a case. This mag- nanimity, however, was to arouse a new flood of newspaper comment throughout the State, most of it critical of the Board's generosity with the State's money. The action of the board found the trustees without a successor. Dr. Jenkins was asked to make a recommendation, but, probably on the strength of the recent unpleasantness, he could think of no desirable candidate. It was necessary, however, to have a temporary president; and :

"THE WAR OF THE REBELLION" 105 after considerable discussion in which the suggestion was made that members of the Board of Trustees take over the management of the institution until a new president

could be secured, it was finally decided to appoint R. W. Stimson, Professor of English, as president pro tempore. The board took occasion at this time to place itself on record in regard to farm instruction in the following resolution presented by Congressman E. S. Henry, a member of the board

Resolved, That earnestly believing that there is an urgent demand and necessity for more advanced and comprehensive instruction in scientific agriculture in Connecticut, and having due regard for the prevailing sentiment among farmers and others interested in agriculture as recently expressed through the Grange and State press, we, the members of. the board of trustees of the Connecticut Agricultural College pledge ourselves to so far as possible promote and extend the scope and quality of agricultural instruction in the institution temporarily placed under our supervision.

The resolution ended the long controversy. Evidently the enemies of the college, including certain of the Yale alumni, had worn themselves out in the battle. The farmers were satisfied with the dismissal of President Flint and approved the board's resolution. The controversy was dead except for a few reverberations as to the unearned salary paid to President Flint.

The Passing of Simonds

The controversy ended the long and vigorous influence of William Edgar Simonds in connection with the institution at Storrs, although he continued for a time as a member of the board. Probably no man in the history of the college has contributed more to its destiny than did

Simonds. He it was who supplied the vision that was to start a small farm school on the way to the Connecticut Agricultural College. The history of his connection with :

106 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

the school was summed up in an issue of the Farmington Valley Herald and Journal of April 6, 1901, while the controversy was still raging. It constitutes the best defense of Simonds that appears anywhere, and the facts and dates quite patently are taken from a direct interview and may therefore be accepted as reasonably accurate. The following excerpt from this story in the Herald and Journal will indicate the extent to which Mr. Simonds had interested himself in the welfare of the institution at Storrs

In 1883 he defended it on the floor of the House of Representatives and appeared before legislative committees in its behalf. In 1884 he appeared before committees of the legislature. In 1885 he left the

Speaker's chair in the House to defend it on the floor; he appeared

before the Assembly committees ; he made a commencement address

at Storrs ; he drafted and had introduced a resolution creating a com-

mission to examine the school and report to the next Assembly ; he

was made house chairman of that commission and served upon it. In 1886 the report of that commission, a printed pamphlet of 87 pages, prepared by Mr. Simonds, was presented to the Assembly; he appeared for the school before the Assembly committee; he was appointed a trustee and has remained one over since. In 1887 he led the contest for one-half the "Hatch Fund," $7,500 a year, which was secured, and the Storrs Experiment Station was established. In 1889 (first biennial session) he appeared before the Assembly committees, both for current

expenses and building funds ; the legislature gave $50,000 for build-

ings ; he was made chairman of the building committee and served three years. In 1890, as a member of Congress, he bore a substantial part in getting the law enacted under which Storrs enjoys $25,000 a year from the Federal Government. In 1892 Mr. Simonds made a commencement address at Storrs. In 1893 he drafted and had introduced into the Assembly a bill dealing with the fund of $135,000 for an agricultural college provided by Federal act of 1862 and the $25,000 a year provided by Federal act of 1890; he printed and circulated at his own expense some thousands of a sixteen-page pamphlet giving the State and Federal legislation in relation to these funds and the history thereof ; he came on from Washington to conduct the great hearing held in the Hall of Representatives March 9, 1893; this year litigation began in the United States Court over said Federal funds and lasted into 1895, Mr. Simonds being of council therein (and paid for it) by special vote of the Storrs trustees. In 1895 Mr. Simonds appeared for the institution before Assembly committees; this year there was litigation over said Federal funds before a Statutory Com- mission in which Mr. Simonds was counsel for the State (and was paid for it five-sixths of what the commission charged and received :

"THE WAR OF THE REBELLION" 107 for deciding the case) by written appointment of Governor Coffin. In 1897 Mr. Simonds appeared for the institution before the Assembly committees and was also counsel for the college (and paid for it) by special vote of the trustees in a contest over $40,000 of Federal funds that had accumulated in the State treasury under the operation of an injunction issued by the United States Court in the litigation already mentioned : Storrs got $20,000 and the State kept $20,000 ; in this year Mr. Simonds appeared before the State Grange in behalf of the college. In 1896 he read before the State Grange a paper entitled, "Why Maintain a State Agricultural College?" and had it printed and circulated in a twenty-four page pamphlet. In 1899 the trustees made a vigorous effort for building funds and other legislation ; they appointed (and paid) Mr. Simonds as special counsel; he prepared and circulated a number of small pamphlets and leaflets ; he drafted different appropriation bills; he appeared and made arguments at many committee hearings ; he fought hostile bills ; he drafted and had introduced bills which became laws, changing the name to Connecticut Agricultural College, and allowing the alumni to elect a trustee; he wrote many letters to and had many interviews with senators and representatives ; and at the end made a gift to the college of almost one-half of his bill. From 1886 to the present time he performed a vast mass of trustee and committee work of which no special mention is made herein. He has acted as the legal counsel of the college in all its ordinary matters from 1886 till now without charge. 'Till 1893 he paid his own expenses and they have never been repaid. He negotiated the purchase of the Crane farm when all others had failed. With the exception of the three instances herein named wherein the college employed him and paid him as special legal counsel, and the one instance herein named wherein the State employed and paid him as counsel, and the further exception of acting as stop-gap for a short time as auditor at $5 a month, all services of every name and nature which Mr. Simonds has rendered to* the institution have been without charge. Mr. Simonds' connection with the institution has cost him antagonism and criticism; and it caused him to be dropped from the lectureship of patent law at the Yale Law School, which he had held for ten years—this last, doubtless, because of a misconception which will now be cleared up.

A Newspaper Symposium

The newspaper comments of the period if collected would fill a large sized volume. A few of them were briefed in an issue of the Hartford Times of July 27, 1901, and are reprinted here merely as an indication of the various viewpoints of the time 108 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

Prospects of a Lively Row (Bristol Press)

Just at this writing there is an inglorious prospect of a lively row between the trustees and the students and faculty of the Storrs Agri- cultural College. Whatever may be behind the action of the board, it does not appear thus far that there is sufficient reason for jeopardizing the usefulness of a State institution. In the absence of explanations and in view of the almost even division of the board of trustees it certainly seems as though public good is being sacrificed for the sake of personal spite.

An Agricultural College Needed (Willimantic Journal)

The State needs the Agricultural College, as an agricultural College. There are in Connecticut institutions of learning of other kinds in plenty, but no< other agricultural college. The institution was started mainly for the purpose of giving instruction in the line of agriculture, and the money from the State and other sources has been handed out for the purpose of supporting an institution in Connecticut where learning the various lines of agriculture may be obtained by our young men and young women in Connecticut. It was a fine thing for Connecticut when the agricultural college at Storrs was established, and any action tending to place the study of agriculture anywhere except at the head of all studies, at that institution, will be a step backward.

To Place Agriculture in Background (New Hartford Tribune)

A decided shake-up in the faculty of the Connecticut Agricultural College at Storrs has resulted in a request for the resignation of four

of the professors. It seems that it is the desire of President Flint, who is at the head of the institution, to place agriculture in the background and have science the foremost study.

Not a Profitable Investment (Manchester Herald)

The Connecticut Agricultural College has never been a profitable

investment for the State. Started as a school for farmers, it has never had a strong clientage. It would surprise most people if they could know just how much it has cost the State to educate each farmer. Now, it is announced that the trustees propose to do away with the predominance of the agricultural feature of the college and bring into the curriculum classical and scientific studies. If this be true, then the State might as well go out of the college business, for with Yale, Wesleyan and Trinity, well-established, well-located and well-equipped "THE WAR OF THE REBELLION" 109 colleges, the institution at Storrs would be too badly handicapped to be in the race. Connecticut is not a farming State, nor could half a dozen agricultural colleges make it one. If the State has any money for the education of young men beyond the public schools it could spend it more profitably teaching them mechanics than agriculture, for Connecticut's leading industry is manufacturing.

Means a State University {New Britain Herald)

The trustees are of the opinion that the school should broaden out along classical and scientific lines. What does this mean? We should say that eventually it means a State University. There is no limit

to broadening it out, and if the State once commences to do it, a great mistake will have been made. The expense of broadening out an institution such as is proposed, to compete with Yale, would be something enormous. We have the latter, let us build it up rather than start in opposition.

This seems to be a cunningly devised scheme to get the State into the position of a purveyor of the higher education. It is to be made insidiously. It is more dangerous than the mechanic arts proposition. It should be effectively sat upon.

A Mighty Poor Farmer (Farmington Valley Herald)

President Flint is in warm water, to be sure. After calling for the resignation of several of the professors a lot of the students openly rebelled and left the college.* They have returned, however, and now the resignation of President Flint is being called for. The college was established primarily to teach the science of agriculture. Pres. Flint has favored classical studies. He is a man of high character and fine personal qualities but a mighty poor farmer. The trustees and the president ought to get together and settle their little differences.

Most of the newspaper comment of the period was based on opinion or viewpoint rather than fact. It would be absolutely impossible to arrive at a clear analysis of the period through a study of the many columns of newspaper comment, most of which was merely back fence gossip.

* This incident seems to have been magnified beyond its actual importance. Only a small group participated. Members of this group now insist that it was only an informal camping trip and was not intended to embarrass the administration. 110 the connecticut agricultural college

Significance of the Controversy

The fact that so much ink was spilled over apparently trivial matters is perhaps indication of a deeper significance than a faculty embroilment. It is true that there was personal opposition at Storrs and throughout the State to both Flint and Simonds. The latter had suffered some loss of prestige through the award to Yale of $154,000 of State money. His management of the institution had been aggressive ; some persons thought arrogant. Even before Flint, however, there had been signs of unrest at Storrs. Under the stimulus of federal funds the little institution was seeking to broaden its curriculum, to raise its standards, and to become a college in fact as well as in name. It was a period of rapid growth of state universities in the west and in many instances these were overshadowing- denominational and privately endowed colleges of long- standing. President Flint's championship of classical education at Storrs and his apparent lack of sympathy with agriculture lent strength to the charge that a state university was contemplated. Certain elements in the State were becoming apprehensive. Storrs had been a farmers' school and many were proud of it as such. They were not willing to give it up. On the other hand, Yale, Wesleyan and Trinity had hosts of friends who could view only with disfavor competition of a state institution. A third group was opposed to any expansion in higher education that would increase taxes. Events at Storrs precipitated these various issues.

The net results of the controversy were to keep the institution nominally agricultural and to end the reign of Flint and Simonds. For a brief time it retarded enrollment, but the ultimate result was just the opposite. CHAPTER VI

PROVING THAT IT PAYS TO ADVERTISE

RUFUS WHITAKER STIMSON, who became acting ' president October 5, 1901, and was made president more than a year later, was born February 20, 1868, on a farm near Palmer, Mass. He spent two years at Colby College, Waterville, Me., and was graduated from Har- vard with the A.B. degree in 1895, specializing in philosophy. In 1896 he received the degree of A.M. from Harvard. In 1897 he was graduated from the Yale Divinity School. He came to Storrs in the fall of 1897 as professor of English language and literature. The early part of Stimson's administration was characterized by the usual quiet that follows a storm. The enemies of Simonds, the anti-Storrs group among the Yale alumni, and the opponents of state education generally, had expended their energies in the "War of the Rebellion." Most of the "trouble makers" on the college staff, who had plagued President Flint, were off the payroll and far removed from Storrs. It must be said in all fairness that some of this same group were among the most capable men who have been connected with the institution throughout its history. Just how far their own personal ambitions were responsible for the troubles of the preceding administration is open to question, but with many new members on the staff and the older ones thoroughly surfeited by the long period of unrest, there was a willingness to co-operate which helped make the beginning of the Stimson administration more auspicious than might otherwise have been the case.

President Stimson was young, full of energy, and ambitious for the growth of the institution. He was by nature a publicist. :

112 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

He early undertook the building up of the summer school, which had made a feeble start in the summer of 1901 and which, under the name of "Agriculture and Nature Study," was to achieve considerable popularity and to provide much favorable advertising for the college among the schools of the State, from the teachers of which the summer school was largely recruited. The catalogs and advertising booklets for the summer school, as well as numerous photographs of the period, indicate that "nature study" was at least equally prominent with "agriculture" in the summer school curriculum. Codfish Falls was a popular spot for studying nature. The prospectus of the summer school, July 8 to August 5, 1902, contains among other interesting items the following information

"Bicycles may sometimes be used to advantage. Stout boots and strong skirts, trousers and jackets will be found most serviceable.

"Drive out to the College from Willimantic. The livery stable charge for one person is $1.50; for two or more a cheaper rate is made."

An Era of Good Feeling and Growth

Almost overnight the attitude of the public toward the school underwent a change. An eloquent speaker, Presi- dent Stimson was ready at all times to carry the college to the people. He encouraged newspaper publicity and even indulged in a small amount of display advertising. It was a period of persuasive catalogs, circular letters, public addresses and contacts of every kind that might be calculated to give the institution popularity and standing with the people of the State.

Even with this progressive policy on the part of the new president, the changes in public attitude from 1901 to 1902 :

PROVING THAT IT PAYS TO ADVERTISE 113 were so abrupt as to confound any but an advanced student of mass psychology.

It was the ringing resolutions of the Pomological Society, adopted at the meeting in an orchard at Berlin, that precipitated the final stages of the "War of the Rebellion." Just a year later the society held another meeting, this time at Storrs. When dinner was served at the college dining hall three hundred persons were present. Following dinner came an inspection of the college farm, particularly the orchard. The Hartford Courant of August 15, 1902,

sums up the effect of this meeting as follows : "The members expressed themselves as well pleased with the work of the college under the new management and the meeting will undoubtedly result in placing the college in a better standing with the farmers about the state."

Pursuant to his policy of getting all the publicity possible for the school, President Stimson invited the Con- necticut Editorial Association to hold a meeting at the college. The Willimantic Chronicle of May 23, 1902, reprints with apparent pride an article appearing in the Stafford Press following- this visit

Everything was found to be in excellent condition; a new cold storage plant is being installed, and the college is well equipped. There

are twenty instructors, and it is unfortunate that a larger number of students are not availing themselves of the privileges there. The college received a severe blow by the recent trouble, which resulted in the retirement of President Flint, but is recovering itself, the entering class this year numbering twenty-nine, the largest in the history of the institution. At present there are only fifty-two students. If the advan-

tages of the practical and scientific education to' be derived there were well known to all the citizens of the state the college would be taxed to its utmost. Visitors are welcome to investigate the work and progress of the college at any time and this is the best way to become acquainted with the institution in all its branches. Acting President

Stimson seems to be the right man in the right place, and is doing all in his power to advance the interests of the college. There is no charge for tuition and room rent—and board and supplies are furnished at cost. There is a chance for a limited number of students to pay the entire expense by doing extra work. The amount required for a year's :

114 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE schooling runs from $125 to $200, the average being about $155. While the large number of those who enter intend to become expert farmers, mechanics and tradesmen, many become civil engineers, teachers, bookkeepers, etc. There are accommodations for over one hundred students.

In the fall of 1901 only one student had appeared at the five examination points throughout the State, and the New Haven newspapers had gleefully reported that Professor Wheeler and Dr. Jenkins spent an entire day in the examination place in that city with no visitors other than the prying reporters. The Report of the Board of Trustees for 1902 shows the following surprising change

In addition to' our old students, forty-four new students, presented themselves for enrollment on the opening of the present term, and during the calendar year covered by this report our students in the College proper, in the Winter School and in the Summer School, have reached the unprecedented number of one hundred and fifty-two.

The Catalog of the college for the same year indicates that six full years of instruction were being offered. The number of students registered in the regular course was listed as one hundred and one, while fourteen students were enrolled in the short winter courses varying from ten days to twelve weeks, and thirty-seven students were registered in the summer school of 1902 in the course labelled for that year "Nature and Country Life."

". . . The total enrollment," according to the Report of the Board of Trustees for 1903, "of those who sought our education during this period was, counting none more than once, two hundred and five,—the largest in the history of the college." The explanation is also given that the facilities of the school had become so crowded by the full course students that it had become necessary to omit the customary offering of short winter courses, much to the disappointment of the administration. The summer school for 1903 registered an attendance of sixty-one. PROVING THAT IT PAYS TO ADVERTISE 115

An advertising booklet, undated but evidently issued about 1902, announced a business course—"Business

Course : Spelling-, penmanship, business arithmetic, business geography, business correspondence, bookkeeping, shorthand, typewriting, business laws and methods."

It must be remembered that this was a period in the college history in which promotion methods were needed and employed, and it becomes necessary at times to analyze quite carefully the figures given as to enrollment.

The report of the trustees for 1906 calls attention to the growth of the institution by comparison with 1882. It was pointed out that twenty-four students were listed in the annual report for the year ending December 31, 1882, while the Catalog for the year ending November 30, 1906,

gave the following classification of students :

"Regular long course students 85 Special and partial course students 27 Winter School short course students 32 Summer School, teachers and others 84 Or, a total, deducting one name counted twice, of 227."

Coincident with the reference to expansion in student

enrollment is a comparison of physical valuation of the plant. The same report points out that in 1882 the valuation of the college property was about $15,000, while the inventory of September 30, 1906, amounted, "on conserva- tive estimate," to $262,463.07. The first teaching staff "consisted of three men; the faculty at present numbers eighteen,—sixteen men and two women." The report indicated that the institution had, in 1906, two hundred and fifty-four graduates of longer courses, of whom thirty-two were women, while the total number of students who had come under the influence of the college for long or short periods amounted to 1,180. 116 the connecticut agricultural college

Efforts Toward Expansion

One of the early ambitions of President Stimson was the centralization of the work of the Storrs Experiment Station at Storrs. While the Station had been in existence since 1887, most of the scientific work continued to be done at Wesleyan, and Director Atwater spent comparatively

little time at Storrs. Through the insistence of President Stimson the offices of the Experiment Station were moved from Wesleyan to Storrs. While there may be some doubt whether this removal resulted in any immediate benefit to

the scientific work of the Station, it was to have a permanent influence on the growth and development of the Con- necticut Agricultural College, suggested in a passage from

the report of the trustees for 1902 : "... And the work of the Storrs Experiment Station, now located here, is arousing the interest and enlisting the hearty co-operation of our scientific men ..."

Efforts to broaden the curriculum were still under way. There was no desire to minimize agriculture but more of the arts and sciences were needed to supplement the "practical" courses. Each new move to introduce more of the humanities brought criticism that the school was "getting away from agriculture." The administration was sensitive to this criticism and repeatedly endeavored to show that the Connecticut Agricultural College was, in fact, more loyal to agriculture than were most other land grant colleges. The critics of Storrs invariably made the mistake of comparing trends here with those in other "agricultural colleges," without troubling to ascertain the facts as to what was going on elsewhere. Without entering openly into a discussion of this point, the administration included in the 1904 Report of the Board of Trustees a quotation from the annual report of the Hon. James Wilson, United

States Secretary of Agriculture : "It is a notable fact that of the 52,489 students in attendance at the land-grant col- :

PROVING THAT IT PAYS TO ADVERTISE 117 leges in the different states and territories in 1903, 3,146 were in four-year courses in agriculture, and 7,550 in shorter courses in agriculture, dairying, horticulture, and veterinary science." Throughout the period and for many years later the Connecticut Agricultural College, almost without exception, maintained the most intensely agricultural curriculum of any land grant college in the country. The report for 1904 made a strong bid for new capital investment in dormitories and equipment

We have found no abatement of interest in the Connecticut land- grant college. On the contrary, the past year has brought an unusual volume of inquiries regarding our institution and its work. So many applicants had previously qualified for admission that it was found necessary to send a bulletin to Connecticut and neighboring newspapers canceling our August entrance examinations, usually held at Hartford, New Haven, Danbury and Norwich. Before the present fall term opened all available boarding accommodations at Storrs had been engaged, and we had a waiting list of applicants for the fall of 1905. Our growth in number of applicants has been gradual but steady, until now we cannot receive all who would be pleased to enter.

It is impossible to measure accurately our loss of possible students from lack of suitable dormitory facilities. That it has for the past two or three years been heavy is beyond question. Some of our students have consented to almost impossible living conditions, in order to be admitted. They have consented to live three in a room in several cases, and even eight in a room in the Agricultural Hall laboratory, which now for the third year has been fitted up with a ward of beds, to receive part of the dormitory overflow. When in answer to inquiries, one is

obliged very early in the year to begin to reply : "We have no room to offer your son, but if he applies at once we can give him a mattress and iron bedstead in a room which he must share with seven other students," obviously no fair basis exists for estimating either gains or losses by comparing the final number of applications with the number of original requests for information.

The Grange, which some persons felt had, for a brief period, wobbled in its fidelity to the institution, was again strongly behind the college. Too much stress can hardly be placed on the influence of this organization, particularly in the early history of Storrs. Always at critical times the Grange has come to the rescue of the college, and on more :

118 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE than one occasion has descended en masse on the State Capitol to demand and get new laws, new buildings, or larger appropriations for Storrs. That President Stimson attributed much of the success in getting Storrs Hall to the help of the Grange is shown in his report of 1905 and by the following excerpt from an address printed in the Proceedings of the Twenty-first Annual Convention of the Association of American Agricultural Colleges and Experi- ment Stations:

Another strong ally is the grange. The executive committee of our State grange was invited to investigate our institution. It came and decided that it was worth supporting, making a public report to this effect. The master of the State grange recently joined with me in a call to the farmers throughout the State to send representatives from their local granges to a hearing on our new dormitory bill before the committee on appropriations of our legislature. When the time came for the hearing, the largest room in the capitol could not seat all the people who came and the appropriation of $60,000 we asked for was granted.

Storrs Hall, the first brick dormitory at the institution, marked an important point in the development of the college. Perhaps even more significant than the facilities it provided for additional students was the endorsement by the General Assembly of the institution and an indication of the willingness for at least some degree of expansion. President Stimson comments on this building in the Report of the Trustees for 1905 as follows

This building we have named "Storrs Hall" in honor of the founder and first benefactor of our institution. Its sixty-six bed-rooms and thirty studies we hope will be ready for use at our fifth annual summer school for teachers and others in nature and country life subjects, which will be held next July; we hope to see every room taken by young

men when our next fall term opens ; and we expect to place extra beds in all of the studies next winter for short course students in dairy and creamery work, in pomology, and in poultry raising. We hail the new hall as a beautiful and enduring embodiment of the hope of the fathers and mothers. We crave no prouder distinction than to be permitted to lend a hand to more and more of their sons and daughters. :

PROVING THAT IT PAYS TO ADVERTISE 119

The college went before the General Assembly of 1907 with a request for a $5,000 increase in annual appropriation, bringing the state's contribution to $25,000; for $2,500 for a sewage disposal plant; for $50,000 for the construction of a horticultural building and greenhouses; and for the purchase of the Valentine Farm at a cost of $8,500. The Valentine Farm was part of the original estate of

Augustus Storrs, and the heirs, finding it necessary to sell the property, wanted the college to have the first chance at the purchase. It consisted of about 100 acres of land, the Storrs residence, later known as the Valentine House, and two cottages. The college did not have the money to buy the property, but George S. Palmer of New London, a member of the Board of Trustees, came to the rescue, made the purchase on behalf of the college for $7,500 and spent an additional $1,000 in equipping the old Storrs home for college use. Mr. Palmer was out $8,500 unless the State was willing to take over the property. Agitation to move the institution from Storrs has peri- odically provided a source of interest, yielding a rich harvest of comments and publicity throughout the State. From the beginning every new building was hailed by the friends of Storrs as another bond to hold the institution to its location. The Lookout for March, 1907, gives the following comment on one such plan to put the college on wheels that for a time promised actual results but failed to materialize

The governor's message to the legislature, recommending the removal of the Connecticut Agricultural College from its present location to some indefinite point within the boundaries of the state, has caused much discussion, both at the College and over the state at large. The subject has been pretty fully aired in the College community and on a larger scale at Hartford and the prevailing opinion seems to be that the only place for the State College is at its present location, and not in the suburbs of Hartford or New Haven. Of course it is yet an early date to decide definitely what will be done, but conditions at the present writing do not seem favorable for the removal of the College. :

120 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

Instead of moving the institution the General Assembly of 1907 made the requested appropriations of $2,500 for sewage disposal beds and of $50,000 for the horticultural building and greenhouses. The Valentine property was acquired through a later State appropriation.

The Gilbert Bequest

The first important bequest to come to the institution was contained in the will of Edwin Gilbert of Georgetown.

The following, from the New Haven Register of May 6, 1906, under a Storrs dateline, is representative of the first reports of this gift:

Edwin Gilbert of Georgetown, this state, who died in Crescent City, Florida, February 28, had been much interested in the work of the Connecticut Agricultural College, and under the terms of his will the college will receive a bequest of $60,000 besides Mr. Gilbert's large farm with its stock and buildings.

The news will give great joy to the friends of Storrs, as it solves the problem of present college needs, the four especial needs being a fireproof library building, a horticultural building, a range of greenhouses and a model dairy building. A poultry building is also a necessity.

Samuel J. Miller of Georgetown, who was connected with the same concern as Mr. Gilbert, and who was his confidant, said that the farm consists of 350 acres and that the money and property become a gift of the college, and without any strings attached to them, except that the farm be used as a sort of annex to the work of Storrs.

Mr. Gilbert was head of the Gilbert and Bennett Manufacturing company, and was in the south on account of the health of his wife.

Storrs was immediately plunged into a high fever but not for long. The Lookout was soon out with an editorial which ran the whole gamut of the emotions at Storrs which successive news stories occasioned

Recently C. A. C. was startled by news that was flashed over the tele- phone to the effect that she had fallen heir to sixty thousand dollars, and an ideal farm well-stocked and provided with machinery. At first this gift of Mr. Gilbert's was thought to have no strings attached to it, PROVING THAT IT PAYS TO ADVERTISE 121

and consequently little else was talked of for a while by the students as well as the faculty. It is even said that some of the professors entered into warm discussions as to what departments should be favored with the buildings which this gift would make possible. But after all this excitement and the building of air castles, official word comes that the sixty thousand dollars is to be used in the development of the Georgetown farm. Great was the disappointment as the truth gradually dawned upon those interested in old Storrs. Then the question was, Should the trustees accept the gift under such conditions? What action will be taken remains to be seen.

The first news of the $60,000 gift to the struggling Con- necticut Agricultural College was widely heralded in the newspapers of the State. The startling significance of the first report was sufficient to throw even the New Haven Register off its balance for the time being, and that paper came out with an editorial congratulating the college in a spirit that approached very close to being friendly. In a very short time, however, it became apparent that the bequest would not be available for use at Storrs but was intended for building up and endowing a model farm and school at Georgetown under the direction of the college. Then arose the question as to whether the State would accept the gift under these conditions. The New Haven Register quickly recovered its equilibrium and began to fear that this would become another "burden" on the State treasury and that Storrs would depend on the legislature to take care of any deficiencies in the farm operations at Georgetown. The bequest furnished a short-time thrill but left a problem. The State accepted the gift and the college has since endeavored to comply with the terms of the will with no immediate advantage to itself and at the expense of much criticism from persons who misunder- stood the purpose of the Gilbert foundation.

The Battle with Mud and Darkness

The years 1905 and 1906 saw the beginning of two important movements, one to lift Storrs out of the kerosene : —

122 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE age and the other to provide better methods and media of transportation. Nor must other factors of progress be overlooked. The

Lookout for May, 1905, says : "No longer will we become footsore and weary as a result of walking to South Coven- try for a haircut. Former musician Fuller has opened a tonsorial parlor at the four corners." The same issue of this paper carried a note on transportation which sounds facetious but, remembering the date, 1905, may represent more of an achievement than it appears in 1931 : "Rapid transit has lately arrived at Storrs. Recently Professor Putnam in his automobile made the trip from Willimantic to Storrs in the record time of three hours and a half."

The Lookout for April, 1906, contains the following:

The surveyors who are laying out the route for the trolley line between Willimantic and Stafford reached Storrs March 14th. What route is mapped out we do not know but it is evident that the line will pass quite near the College buildings, and possibly will cut through part of the College grounds. We are this much nearer having a trolley and if the Consolidated Railway is behind the company with the charter as is rumored—we believe that Storrs will soon be connected with the surrounding cities.

The following month another paragraph was added

The engineers who are surveying the route of the proposed trolley line between Willimantic and Stafford, recently passed through Storrs, en route for Stafford. The line as laid out by the surveyors will come up the valley from Willimantic crossing over to Stafford at Storrs. This line will bring the college into closer communication with Willi- mantic and thereby with other parts of the state and will, doubtless, be a means of increasing the number of students at C. A. C. Even if no increase in number is noticed it will certainly be a great convenience to those who do attend. If electricity is brought here in the near future, this, together with trolley service and Storrs Hall, will make the Col- lege a more attractive place in the future than it has been in the past.

It is easy to imagine that the possibilities of a trolley line may have been more of a news item in Storrs in 1906 than : :

PROVING THAT IT PAYS TO ADVERTISE 123 the prospect of a concrete highway from Willimantic to Storrs in 1930. The trolley line, like various proposals for spur tracks from Eagleville, never advanced beyond the promotion stage. In January, 1907, the Lookout chronicled the progress of electric lights as follows

The installation of electric lights in the chapel, library and dining hall is a welcome improvement. These lights, we trust, are the forerunners of a general use of electricity in Storrs Hall and other College buildings. The increase of the use of electricity as a lighting and mechanical agent in rural communities and small towns is very marked. In places where ten years ago there was not a thought given to electricity it is now coming into general use. It seems as if money invested by a farmer in electric lights for his farm buildings would be a paying investment when the safety and efficiency of the electric light is compared with the oil lantern.

Alumni Prizes

Whatever the theories of presidents and professors as to what constituted logical courses of study for an agricultural college, the alumni early in the twentieth century seem to have had some very definite ideas. In an account of commencement, the Hartford Courant of June 20, 1902, after announcing the Hicks Prizes for English Composition and other honors, added this paragraph

Besides these the alumni of the college offer two prizes each year for excellence in practical agriculture. The contestants must take an examination in actual performance of different kinds of farm work, such as harnessing, hitching and driving of teams, both horses and oxen, also in a considerable variety of other practical kinds of work. This examination was held on the college farm yesterday morning. In this test, Lester H. Harvey won the first prize of $10 and A. B. Clark the second prize of $5.

For a number of years the alumni offered similar prizes. Cash awards were offered for the best records in written examinations on applied agriculture, the questions being prepared by the alumni. One of the requirements was to :

124 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE draw a plan for a satisfactory dairy barn. Among the practical tests were mowing with a scythe and with a mowing machine, cultivating corn, and a harness contest in which the harness was almost hopelessly scrambled and the contestants had to get it in order, put it on the horses and hitch them to a designated farm implement.

Student Life and Activities

Sports continued to play a part in student life and an effort seems to have been under way to organize the social life of the student body. Reference is made in the Look- out of April, 1902, to the athletic opportunities available to the students of Storrs, which included golf, tennis, football and basketball. Another reference is made at about the same period to polo as a student activity, but information as to the type of polo or the extent to which it was played is lacking. Present day students who expose campus traffic to a barrage of uncertainly aimed golf balls will doubtless be surprised to learn that they are not initiating a new sport at Storrs, but merely reviving one of more than a quarter of a century ago. The Lookout of April, 1902, under the head "Social Life at Storrs," mentions Friday evening socials, church sup- pers, lectures at the college hall, meetings of the college societies, and rhetoricals. The alumni banquet and reunion marked the close of the year's social festivities. At least two organized and formal dances had been inaugurated, the Military Ball and the White Duck Hop. Football continued to be played throughout the period with varying success but always as a virile, masculine game. Perhaps the following account of a football game, taken from an issue of the Hartford Courant of November, 1905, will suffice to represent the more rugged athletics of the period 1 :

PROVING THAT IT PAYS TO ADVERTISE 125

Willimantic, Nov. 20.—Connecticut and Rhode Island had their innings at football on the Windham baseball field in this city yesterday. Connecticut was represented by the Connecticut Agricultural College team and Rhode Island by an eleven from its agricultural college. The game was called at 3 o'clock and it took two hours to play the 25 minute halves, most of the wasted time being disputes in the last half over off-side plays claimed on the Connecticut team by the Rhode Island referee.

Tyler, the Rhode Island man who refereed the second half, penalized the Connecticut team fully 100 yards, and in one instance put his team over the goal line on a five-yard penalty, but the Connecticut boys wouldn't stand for that. After a long controversy they were put within three yards of the goal line and in three tries they succeeded in scoring a touchdown, but failed to kick the goal.

The line-up of the teams was as follows

Rhode Island Storrs

Drew r. e Shurtliff

Harding r. t Patterson Crandall r. g F. A. Miller Schermerhoch c Smith

Arnold 1. g Hollister

Mills 1. Risley

Hubbard 1. e C. E. Miller

Wilkenson q. b Wilton

Berry r. h Cornwall

Ferry 1. h Tryon

Quinn f . b Chapman Referees Tyler and Smith.

Connecticut scored its 10 in the early part of the first half. A goal was kicked from the field in four minutes and ten seconds from the opening of the game. In the next play Connecticut got the ball to the five yard line in one minute when Rhode Island took it and worked it back to the center, to lose to Connecticut on three downs. Chapman got the ball and carried it to the ten yard line and in the next play Wilton took the ball over for a touchdown and Chapman kicked the goal. The first half ended with a score of 10 to in favor of Connecticut.

Tyler took charge of the second half and it was a scrimmage all the way through, the C. A. C. boys were loaded with penalties. Their (Rhode Island's) first touchdown was fairly won and the second was a gift by Tyler and the game ended in a tie of 10 to 10,* it being dark before time was called.

* In that period of football history a touchdown counted five points, goal after touchdown one point, and a field goal four points. : ; ; : ;:

126 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

Amateur poets have nourished at Storrs through several periods. The old files of the Lookout contain many of these literary indiscretions. The following single verse with the chofus is taken from a three stanza song printed in the October, 1906, issue of the Lookout, under the title

"The White and Blue," and is reprinted here more for its atmosphere than as a contribution to the anthology of poetry

Did you ever take a co-ed down to Beebe's for a stroll? Oh, so neat, And so sweet Did she eat a dish or two of cream and wish it were a bowl? Yours the treat "Easy" Pete; Did you walk back in the twilight underneath the spreading trees? Just you two, Out of view And then whisper in her ear, "Let us join the chorus, dear," as this echo filled the breeze

Chorus

'Mid the green hills of New England, Where the wooden nutmegs grow And the velvet of God's carpet, Covers hill and vale below; Stands our grand old Alma Mater, Pride of sons and daughters true While there waves above the campus, The White and Blue, the White and Blue.

Dramatic clubs have flourished at Storrs during various periods. In 1907 and 1908, especially, student plays were numerous and popular. The College Dramatic Club presented plays at Storrs, Spring Hill, Willimantic and more distant points. The Willimantic Chronicle was favorable in its notices.

Storrs' Most Famous Burglary

Storrs has been extremely fortunate throughout its history in the matter of crime. Among the few burglaries :

PROVING THAT IT PAYS TO ADVERTISE 127

of any consequence was one in April, 1906, when an attempt apparently was made to rob the college treasury. The Hartford Times of April 17, 1906, under a Willi- mantic date-line, narrates the incident

Students at Storrs Have Early Morning Man-Hunt

There was an exciting time at the Connecticut Agricultural College at Storrs between 2 and 3 o'clock this morning when shots were exchanged by the night watchman and one of the professors at the college with a gang of burglars. The college is located in a rather isolated part of Tolland county, about seven miles from this city, and the presence of strangers there usually excites immediate attention. Last Thursday there were several suspicious appearing men about the college buildings and early Sunday morning the night watchman, C. R. Hobby, saw two men attempting to enter the main building of the college, one opening the door which was unlocked and going into the main corridor, while the other kept a watch outside. The watchman shouted at the men, asking them what they wanted, and at this the man outside whistled to his companion and they both took to their heels.

Sharp Watch

Since that time extra close watch has been kept, and Prof. E. D. Proudman, who has charge of the college accounts and finances, has remained on guard nights, assisting the watchman. Last night about 11 o'clock the watchman found a barrel placed under a window of the college office, where the safe is located, and also found that some of the screws had been removed from the storm window just above. A thorough search was made and a careful watch kept, but not until about 2 o'clock this morning were there any further developments.

Then, when the moon came up, three men were seen standing on a knoll in the rear of the college. The watchman, who had a revolver, advanced on the men and ordered them to throw up their hands. Prof. Proudman, who had been in hiding under the tree, joined the watchman and the burglars opened fire on them and then started towards the woods. The watchman and Prof. Proudman returned the fire, the latter using a Winchester rifle, and in all about a dozen shots were exchanged.

It is thought that a bullet from Prof. Proudman's Winchester struck one of the men, as he was seen to suddenly drop his arm as though he had been struck. The burglars were pursued as far as the edge of the woods and then the college bell was rung to give the alarm and the students were roused and organized into a searching party. The surrounding country was gone over carefully for the discovery of clues, 128 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE but without result as far as finding any. Prof. Proudman found tracks of a wide-tired vehicle this morning, and it is thought that the burglars may have made their escape in an automobile.

The local police think that the gang is the one that robbed the post- office at Chaplin last Thursday night, securing nearly $1,000 in postage stamps and money.

Death of Professor Koons

On December 18, 1903, Professor B. F. Koons, who had been a powerful influence in the life of the institution

from his first connection with it in the fall of 1881, died after a long illness. The name of B. F. Koons remains as one of the outstanding facts in the history of the institution. A graduate of Oberlin, he received the degree of doctor of philosophy from Yale. He taught at various times the natural sciences, including geology, zoology and entomology, as well as serving as principal of the old Storrs Agricultural School and later as president of the Storrs Agricultural College. The museum of natural history had its beginning under his direction. Professor Koons has even been credited with keeping the institution alive during some of its darkest days. He impressed his personality on students and associates alike. Although he was removed from the presidency to make way for Mr. Simonds' candidate, President G. W. Flint, a letter on file in the college library indicates that Mrs. Flint may have inaugurated the movement which resulted in the placing by the alumni of a permanent marker on a large granite boulder at the north end of the campus near Swan Lake as a memorial to his services. At the dedication service of this tablet Professor Chamberlain, who had been associated with the school at Storrs from early days, paid tribute to Professor Koons' influence on the institution. This address, which contains the important facts of his life, may be found in the files of the Lookout for September, 1905. PROVING THAT IT PAYS TO ADVERTISE 129

Professor Koons seems not to have lost prestige by his demotion from president to the rank of professor. Neither

did it apparently alter his own attitude toward the institution. A Civil War veteran with an excellent war record, and a prisoner in one of the worst of Southern camps, he

had learned to take life as it came. To many formei students of Storrs he will ever remain a grand old man.

The Church Has an Anniversary

The Storrs Church has been so closely identified with student and community life throughout the history of the

college that it seems only fair to mention a birthday celebra-

tion held during this period. The following is taken from the Hartford Courant of December 14, 1904:

Storrs Church Celebrates Its 160th Anniversary

This week the Congregational Church at Storrs attained to the age of 160 years. The anniversary was celebrated last Sunday with appropriate exercises which included an historical address by the pastor, Rev. Harris E. Starr.

The church was formally organized October 11, 1744, although an ecclesiastical society had already existed in the parish for several

years ; and its meeting house, forty-eight feet long and thirty-three feet wide, was completed in 1746. Later this gave place to one much larger, whose steeple, sixty feet high, was visible for miles around. In 1848 the second structure was deemed too large and was remodeled into the present edifice.

The first minister, Rev. William Throop, stayed but two or three years. He was followed by Rev. Daniel Welch, who remained thirty- one years. He was taken sick one Sunday while in the pulpit and died in a few hours. Into his place, his son, Rev. Moses Welch, stepped and remained forty-two years. He, too, was taken sick in the pulpit and was carried away never to return. Forty-two years later his grandson became pastor and remained ten years. Few churches probably can boast that the same family has provided their ministers for nearly 100 years of their history.

At present the church is attended and largely supported by the faculty and students of the Connecticut Agricultural College. 130 the connecticut agricultural college

Close of the Stimson Administration

Although the school had been founded "for citizens of

Connecticut," it had attained by 1906 a wider territorial

distribution of students than it has at present. The report of the trustees for 1907 indicates that students of the college came from Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Can- ada, India, the West Indies, Ecuador, Switzerland and Germany.

The alumni, always attentive to the interests of the institution, were beginning to demand not one member of the Board of Trustees but two, and the General Assembly of 1907, in an act approved May 29, provided for two alumni trustees.

Throughout the period the growth and progress of the institution were steady. There was some dissension and a normal amount of criticism but no major controversies. In the matter of buildings appropriations and on the proposition to move the school, the General Assembly indicated a friendly attitude. Appropriations for current needs remained small, although increases in federal funds permitted a degree of expansion. President Stimson strove to maintain the confidence of the agricultural groups that had on more than one occasion proved to be the bulwarks of the institution. The events of the "War of the Rebel- lion" had revealed the extent of the fear existing in many quarters of a "state university," and Stimson had a real problem in attempting to build an agricultural school of college level without encountering further charges of "competition" with existing colleges. That he succeeded as well as he did under the circumstances remains the outstanding fact of his administration.

On February 20, 1908, Rufus Whitaker Stimson presented to the Board of Trustees his resignation as presi- PROVING THAT IT PAYS TO ADVERTISE 131

dent, the resignation to take effect at the close of the college year. President Stimson had been connected with the college for eleven years, four years as professor and seven as acting president and president. The Board of Trustees unanimously passed a resolution expressing respect and confidence in President Stimson and acknowledging his services to the college and State. The following from a news story in the Hartford Courant probably expressed the

State viewpoint on his administration :

Professor Rufus Whitaker Stimson, for five and one-half years president of the Connecticut Agricultural College at Storrs, has tendered to the trustees his resignation to go into effect at the end of the present year. Professor Stimson will become the executive head of an agricultural college that is to be established at Northampton, Mass., to be known as the Smith Agricultural School.

Professor Stimson, to whom the offer has come unsolicited, has been at the Connecticut Agricultural College eleven years, serving at first as professor of English, ethics, and public speaking at the college. .... When he was given charge of the Institution there was an enrollment of eighteen pupils. This has been increased to 125 regular students and twenty-five short-term students. There has also been established a large and growing summer school, under President Stimson's direction. Last summer the registration was ninety-eight. The new $60,000 dormitory has been built during his administration and enlarged appropriations have also been secured from the state. Also the horticultural building and greenhouses have been started He has been a faithful worker for the best interests of agriculture in this state and much has been accomplished under his management for the best interests of the school of which he is president.

On April 25, the Board of Trustees appointed Professor E. O. Smith acting president, with full power and authority of president, until such time as the president-elect, Professor C. L. Beach, could assume active duties of his office. CHAPTER VII

THE MARCH ON HARTFORD

PRESIDENT CHARLES LEWIS BEACH assumed * his duties on September 15, 1908, relieving- Professor E. O. Smith, who had been acting president since April 25.

President Beach was born at Whitewater, Wis., April 6, 1866. He was graduated from the University of Wiscon- sin with the B.A. and B.S. degrees in 1886. Then followed ten years in the milling business and in 1896 he became an instructor in dairy husbandry at Storrs. While with the dairy department he conducted experiments that added greatly to the development of dairy science. In 1906 he became professor of dairy husbandry at the University of Vermont but was called back to Storrs two years later as president. The remarkable development of Connecticut Agricultural College dates from his inauguration. As a member of the staff Mr. Beach had passed through some of the most trying days at Storrs. He understood not only the local situation but the attitude of the people of the State toward the school. As a graduate of a land grant college he had a background for understanding the processes required for growth in such institutions. He brought to his new work a patience and persistence which were alike necessary for building up a struggling institution in a state which had legally accepted the Land Grant Act but had not yet accepted its principles or its implications. President Stimson, a former minister, had depended upon speech-making. President Beach brought to the institution a new type of strategy. Throughout his administration he made few public addresses and those only

through necessity. Perhaps it was a part of his philosophy that if nothing was said there was nothing to be retracted. C. L. Beach Buildings for Women Students

Upper—Grove Cottage, Erected in 1896. Destroyed by Fire in 1919. Lower—Holcomb Hall, Completed in 1921. THE MARCH ON HARTFORD 133

He was a master, however, of the statistical art. Both on offense and defense he depended upon an array of figures to unhorse his adversaries.

Throughout the twenty years in which Mr. Beach served as president of the Connecticut Agricultural College the outstanding fact was the persistence with which he returned with each new session of the General Assembly to his carefully formulated plan for building up the institution. President Beach foresaw that the only permanent answer to the question of location, in fact the answer to the question of continued existence, lay in the physical plant. Each new building represented another spike that was to hold the institution in place. Along with the development of the physical equipment came a steady growth in quality of instruction and of progress in educational standards.

In his first message to the General Assembly and the people of the State, through the trustees' report for 1908, President Beach outlined under the head of "Needs of the College" the first steps of a building plan which was to form the basis of the institution which had been projected in his mind. This phrase, "Needs of the College," was one with which the people of the State were to become familiar during his score of years as administrator at Storrs.

All of the projects mentioned in this first statement of needs for material improvements were to be realized, although some of them were years in coming. The Dining Hall was urgently recommended at this time. It was pointed out that if student enrollment in 1909 should increase in proportion to the increased registration of the year before, every seat in the old Dining Hall would be filled twice at each meal. The room in the Main building used as a dining hall was required by the Library. A new dormitory for men was urgently needed. Whitney Hall 134 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE was no longer a dormitory but was used largely for family apartments and small classrooms. Gold Hall and Storrs Hall were inadequate to house the increasing numbers of young men seeking admission. Storrs Hall was crowded, three students being assigned to suites originally designed for two. There were rooming accommodations for only one hundred and twenty-four young men, while one hundred and forty were in attendance. Four more cottages for members of the faculty were needed. Valentine Farm was still owned by G. S. Palmer of New London, a member of the Board of Trustees, who was holding it for the college in the event the State could be induced to take it over. The old wooden tank which had served as the institution's first water system had been replaced by a steel tower and tank, and a gasoline engine had been installed to assist a windmill in pumping water. The trustees without authorization had made the much needed improvements and were asking reimbursement from the General Assem- bly. The horticulture building constructed two years before from an appropriation of $50,000 was in need of furnishing. A coal bunker was needed at Eagleville to facilitate the hauling of coal and to relieve the strain on farm equipment caused by the necessity of moving the coal immediately on arrival regardless of roads, weather, or the pressure of farm work. Practical as was the coal bunker, it would seem the chief interest in this item in the 1908 report must come from the fact that nearly twenty years later the same basic arguments were being advanced. Dairying, horticulture, and poultry husbandry were mentioned as the three leading agricultural interests of Con- necticut. Dairying and horticulture had been taken care of in previous appropriations, but the institution was in need of a poultry building to facilitate instruction in this industry. The Library and its needs were mentioned in the report and a strong plea was made for increased appropriations to the Experiment Station. the march on hartford 135

Evolution of the Physical Plant

The administration went before the 1909 session of the General Assembly with specific requests amounting to $89,601.56 for new buildings and furnishings. Actual appropriations were just $50,000 short of this sum.

The largest single item requested was $30,000 for a new Dining Hall. Instead, the General Assembly appropriated $12,500 for the construction of a temporary dining hall. The Trustees decided that the new building should be planned so as to make it available for future use as a Mechanic Arts Building. By close economy, additional funds to construct this building were later obtained from other sources, the actual cost being $17,309.39. A request of $24,000 for a Poultry Building was ignored. Money was appropriated for several faculty cottages, for furnishing the Horticultural Building (Gulley Hall) and to pay for the improvements to the water system. A special act was passed for road improvement.

Undaunted by failure to impress sufficiently the 1909 General Assembly with "building needs" at Storrs, Presi- dent Beach came back two years later with a greatly expanded budget and with an even stronger array of arguments. The 1911 session of the General Assembly proved more generous than its predecessor. The principal item requested was a new dormitory for men. It seemed for a time as if the dormitory would be lost, but William Henry Hall of South Willington stepped into the breach at the last minute and succeeded in getting it re-instated. This dormitory was later named Koons Hall in memory of the former president, B. F. Koons.

Considerable delay was experienced in getting the new buildings under way. The Lookout for June, 1912, summarized the 1911 appropriations for new buildings: :

136 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

The General Assembly of 1911 made appropriations to the college for new buildings, including equipment, to the amount of $178,000 as follows

Dormitory for young men $75,000 Poultry school building 25,000 Dairy barn 10,000 Horse barn 10,000 Addition to Agricultural Hall 20,000 Electric lighting 8,000 New cottages 25,000 Furnishing dining hall 5,000

The dormitory building is to be similar in style of architecture and interior design to Storrs Hall, except that the construction is to be made fireproof. During the fall term of the present school year 126 students were assigned rooms in Storrs Hall, or twice the number which the building was designed to accommodate. It is evident, therefore, that the additional room provided by the proposed building will be needed by the number of students now enrolled. The building committee have selected the well-known firm of Davis & Brooks as archi- tects, and plans and specifications are now being prepared. Following out the plan of the landscape architect, the new dormitory will be erected on the site of the house occupied by President Beach, the dwelling house to be moved and form one of the group of residences on the Whitney Drive.

There was optimism in the air. Never before had Storrs witnessed such wide-scale building- operations as were represented by the following story on "Building Prog- ress at Agricultural College," printed in the Norwich

Bulletin of February 5, 1913 :

Five fireproof brick buildings are under construction here for the Connecticut Agricultural college. They are in various states of completion but when finished will represent an outlay of approximately $130,000. The Fenton-Charnley company of Norwich has the general contract.

The brick work on the three-story dormitory is up to the first floor. This is 175 by 50 feet, with fireproof floors and granite and limestone trim.

The three-story brick building for the poultry department, which will contain lecture rooms, will be 40 by 60 feet, and for this the foundation is in. THE MARCH ON HARTFORD 137

The first story is in for the agricultural hall, 40 by 30, and this building will be three stories of brick and stone.

The cowbarn which is 50 by 100 is being roofed. This likewise is fireproof and will accommodate 48 cows. The foundation for the horse barn has been completed. All the buildings will be completed by the first of September so as to be in readiness for the opening of the school year, 1913-1914.

Requests before the 1913 General Assembly for improvements at Storrs were centralized on a building to serve as a combined auditorium, armory, and gymnasium, and for proper water, sewage and fire protection systems.

The old chapel in the Main Building had been serving as an auditorium, and was entirely inadequate, not only for the purposes of the school but to house the crowds that were beginning to come for commencement and annual summer gatherings of the various agricultural interests. Military science was well under way and a winter drill hall was required. Athletics had been hampered by the lack of a suitable gymnasium, various makeshifts having been employed.

Sewage disposal had long been an annoying problem at Storrs. Originally much of the sewage from the institution had been carried down the eastern slope to a small tributary of the Fenton River. The location of sewage beds west of the campus had helped meet some of the objections to this plan, but aroused new opposition from residents in the vicinity.

Water was still supplied from the well back of the Main

Building where it was pumped to a tank of 30,000 gallons capacity. The water system was beginning to be inadequate and the possibility of fire was serious. The General Assembly of 1913 made appropriations of $60,000 for an auditorium and armory, $15,000 for faculty cottages, $20,000 for a sewage system and water works, and $8,000 for equipment of Koons Hall and the Poultry 138 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

Building. A steel standpipe twenty-five feet in diameter and eighty feet high was erected with a capacity of 300,000 gallons of water.

On January 4, 1914, Gold Hall was totally destroyed by fire. This building, a two-story 'frame structure erected in 1890, had long been an important part of the life of the institution, and its passing was one of the dramatic events of the period. The news of the fire was contained in the following special dispatch to the Hartford Courant:

Willimantic, Jan. 4.—Gold Hall, one of the dormitories of the Connecticut Agricultural College at Storrs, was burned this noon. The loss is $13,500, covered by insurance. There is also a loss of about $1,000 covering the personal belongings of Professor Sherman Hollister and six stenographers and twenty-one students. Most of the contents of the building were saved.

Fortunately the wind was such as to carry the fire brands away from the group of buildings, but fear was expressed for the main building of the group, which adjoined Gold Hall. Gold Hall is an end building of the group. Several lines of hose were used and the efforts were directed to the main building and rescuing the contents of Gold Hall.

Word was sent to Willimantic and Fire Chief Thomas P. Foley with twelve firemen of the Willimantic fire department went to the college in automobiles.

One of the unfortunate incidents in connection with the efforts made to save the main building was the injury of Charles Hall, a graduate of the college, who is now assistant herdsman. Mr. Hall, with several others of the college faculty and students, was working on the main building making every effort to save the structure. While going from one side of the roof to the other he slipped and fell on the roof, which was covered with ice. He was immediately taken to St. Joseph's Hospital here where it was found that there were indications of serious internal injuries.

Following the destruction of Gold Hall the institution found itself more cramped than before. President Beach had already begun plans for a building to provide classroom accommodations for a student body of at least four hundred, and offices of administration, business office, post office, offices for the Experiment Station and Extension :

THE MARCH ON HARTFORD 139

Service, and for temporary accommodations of a Library. The first reference to the need for such a building appears in the Report of the Board of Trustees for 1914. Agita- tion for this building was to be kept up continuously, resulting finally in the construction of the present Beach Hall. The original plan for the use of such a building conforms quite closely to its present uses. While the campaign for new buildings and improvements was going on, the college was consistently adding to its land area. Mention was made earlier of the purchase of the Valentine farm and home by George S. Palmer of New London, a member iof the Board of Trustees. In making the purchase Mr. Palmer had no thought of gain, and, in fact, there was the possibility that the State would refuse to take over the property. Mr. Palmer continued this generous policy over a period of years and by timely purchases enabled the State to acquire on behalf of the institution land essential to its growth and development, which, in every case, the State eventually did. The Report of the Board of Trustees for 1910 indicates the extent to which Mr. Palmer's foresight and his faith in the little college at Storrs continued to result in the acquisition of strategic land holdings

The Snow farm adjoining the college property on the south has been purchased by Mr. George S. Palmer and is being held for acquirement by the State. The Rosebrooks house and ten acres of land, the Phelps house and lot, the parsonage lot, and the Green farm of sixty- five acres have been purchased and are now being held for acquirement by the State in a similar manner. All of the above property is occupied and used by the college at the present time and rented on the basis of 5% of the purchase price, taxes and insurance added.

From the three small tracts of land which comprised the early property of the Storrs Agricultural School, to the present holdings of more than fifteen hundred acres, is quite an increase. It is all the more noteworthy that the bulk of this increase was acquired in relatively small parcels and much of it at a time when the struggling college at :

140 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

Storrs had precious little money to spend. Whatever other problems are in store for future administrations at Storrs the land problem need not be among the serious ones. Back in the days of the Storrs Agricultural College a start had been made in landscaping under the direction of C. T. Barrett, a "landscape gardener" of Staten Island, N. Y. The front campus had been made over to har- monize with the group of buildings on the crest of the hill. Prof. Gulley continued to set out ornamental plantings, new roads were opened from time to time or old ones closed, and each new building was carefully located with a view to future development. There was need, however, of a more comprehensive plan, and Charles N. Lowrie of New York was employed about 1910 as landscape architect. In the Report of the Board of Trustees for that year was published a complete plan for the development of college grounds, prepared by Mr. Lowrie. This plan, with modifications, has since been followed.

There still existed some unsightly structures on the campus that had been acquired with various additions of land, and the report for 1910 indicates that the college authorities were becoming conscious of the need for living up to their new buildings and layout, as indicated in the following paragraphs

Removal of Buildings.—Largely for esthetic reasons the horse barn is to be removed from the campus to the site selected for the farm group of buildings.*

Arrangements were made with the Ecclesiastical Society of the Con- gregational Church for exchange of lots and removal of the hearse house to a new site selected near the cemetery, and of the parsonage from the front campus to a position immediately across the highway.

The blacksmith shop has been removed to a less conspicuous position in the rear of Storrs Hall.

* It is said that among the rubbish used to fill up the basement of this barn was a statue of Ceres that had once adorned the State Capitol at Hartford. Becoming damaged, the statue was taken down and sent to Storrs, but there was no place for it here. It is now supposed to be buried under the new hard surfaced road on the campus. :

THE MARCH ON HARTFORD 141

Educational Standards

While the most spectacular accomplishment of President Beach during this period was in the building up of the physical plant—the gradual transformation of a campus of frame buildings into one of brick and mortar, the acquisition and improvement of land, the solution of water and sewage problems, and in other material advancements—the most important contribution was in transforming a school into a college. The institution at Storrs had always faced the necessity of providing courses for farm boys who were unable or unwilling to complete a preparatory high school course. In the earlier days of the institution as a land grant college this had been accomplished in part by academic or preparatory courses. Various expedients of degree and non-degree courses had been tried to meet the varying needs of students who entered from high school and those who had only grammar school preparation. The School of Agricul- ture was finally established for boys who could not take a full college course. As eventually developed, this became a two years' course of twenty weeks each year in which boys were accepted with only grammar school preparation and given an intensive course in practical agriculture. Simi- lar schools in Home Economics and in Mechanic Arts were established as a temporary expedient following increase in entrance requirements in 1914. In the Report of the Board of Trustees for 1912, President Beach presented a review of educational progress during his administration to that time and a statement of future plans

Scholastic Development .of the College.—In the fall of 1909 the college course in agriculture was changed from two years to three years of training for graduation with a diploma.

In 1911 an additional year of instruction in agriculture was added, making a course of four years required for graduation. Students 142 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

entering with two years of high school preparation were to be graduated with a diploma, and those entering with four years of high school preparation were to be graduated with the degree of B.S.

The faculty have recommended a further change, and in the fall of 1914 admission to the college of agriculture will be restricted to high school graduates.

The result of these changes will be an increase in admission requirements to the college course in 1914 of two years additional preparation over the requirements of 1908, and the establishment of a college of agriculture in fact as well as in name, requiring high school preparation for admission and leading to graduation with the degree of B.S. on the completion of four years of study. This course is designed for the training of young men for leadership in agriculture—as scientific farmers, teachers, investigators, and agricultural experts.

Academic Course.—The academic course, heretofore given to accommodate those who were unable to meet our entrance requirements, was abandoned in 1911, the last class certificating in 1912. The instruction in this course duplicated that of local high schools, and it was deemed inadvisable, therefore, both from an educational and a financial standpoint, longer to continue the duplication of training given elsewhere. In the future applicants unable to make the college entrance requirements can be admitted to the vocational schools of agriculture, home economics, and mechanic arts.

School of Agriculture.—The two-year course in the School of Agri- culture was offered for the first time in the fall of 1911. Fifty-six students registered in the fall term of 1912. The instruction in the School of Agriculture is vocational in character and is designed to train young men for the profession of farming. Applicants are admitted from the common schools.

School of Home Economics.—This course of two years, offered for the first time in the fall of 1911, is designed for the training of young women in the science and art of household management. Students are admitted from the common schools. The three-year college course in home economics has been discontinued.

School of Mechanic Arts.—The two-year course in the School of Mechanic Arts is designed to give instruction in wood working, wood turning, pattern making, forging, shop work, and mechanical drafting Two years of high school preparation are required for admission. The three-year college course in mechanic arts has been discontinued.

Abandonment of Winter Courses.—The short winter courses in dairy husbandry, poultry husbandry, and horticulture have been abandoned on account of the lack of dormitory and class-room accommodations. These courses have attracted many students in the past, 285 having THE MARCH ON HARTFORD 143

received instruction therein, and it is to be regretted that the courses cannot be continued. There are many young men and women who cannot afford the time .or expense of even the two-year course in the School of Agriculture, but who could manage to enter for six weeks' or three months' instruction in the winter short courses. An attempt was made last year to provide for the demand for short-time special instruction in agriculture by offering courses of one week in length away from the college at various points in the state.

The date, 1914, can be accepted as the time when Con- necticut Agricultural College definitely became a college in fact as well as in name. Graduation from high school became a requirement for entrance to the regular courses at Storrs. The institution had previously attempted to discriminate between degree and non-degree courses but the fact that so many students of inadequate preparation were admitted to regular courses had aroused suspicion in many quarters that the institution was not truly of college rank. The college had graduated some excellent students under the old system, but hereafter a degree from Storrs was to carry more weight and the change found favor among many students and alumni. To the faculty, especially, the new standards were welcome. There were some who felt that President Beach was principally interested in physical development of the college plant. They sought to hasten the increase in standards of scholarship. But President Beach was not to be hurried. From 1908 to 1928 he slowly but persistently increased the educational standards. He steadfastly refused to do this faster than he felt the circumstances warranted.

Interpreting the Land Grant Act

Mr. Beach early attacked the old question as to whether Storrs was "cultural or agricultural." In his first report to the Board of Trustees he summarized the division of instruction hours as follows : "Three hundred and twenty- : ;

144 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

four hours are assigned to mathematics, two hundred and fifty-two hours to history, five hundred and forty hours to English, six hundred and fifty-eight hours to the sciences, forty-eight hours to economics, seventy-two hours to free- hand drawing, forty-six hours to bookkeeping, and four hundred and forty-three hours to military tactics, a total of 2,383 hours devoted to cultural and disciplinary subjects and 1,754 hours devoted to agricultural instruction, or forty-two per cent vocational and fifty-eight per cent cultural and disciplinary."

In a broader sense, it was pointed out, the sciences are agricultural in nature, forming a foundation for the special technical training. The vocational instruction, therefore, should really be rated at 2,412 hours, and the cultural and disciplinary, including the military training for the four years, at 1,725 hours, practically reversing the percentages given. The Lookout of April, 1909, contains an interesting summary of the division of student enrollment, prepared by Professor E. O. Smith, Secretary of the Faculty. This summary indicates that there were one hundred and eight students in agriculture, seventeen in mechanical engineering, twenty-seven in domestic science and three not classified. The Lookout comments as follows

There seems from this to be no reason to fear that Connecticut will turn aside from agriculture. Twenty-two of us are between sixteen and seventeen years of age ; twenty-five between eighteen and nineteen seven of our number have reached the patriarchal age of twenty-five. Notwithstanding the pronounced tendency to agriculture, we find that the fathers of sixty-eight of us are farmers ; on the other hand, the fathers of seventy of our number are not farmers.

Distribution of students throughout this period is difficult to follow because of many changes in courses. The School of Agriculture, for example, varied widely in enrollment within comparatively brief periods. The Connecticut Farmer for October 10, 1914, contained the following: :

THE MARCH ON HARTFORD 145

The Connecticut Agricultural College opened on Tuesday, Septem- ber 22, with an enrollment of 232 students. This number is larger than any previous year. The accommodations for young men are inadequate and it is quite probable that the trustees will ask the Legislature for an appropriation for a dormitory for young men.

The enrollment for the fall term of 1914 is distributed as follows Seniors, 22; Juniors, 30; Sophomores, 40; Freshmen, 38; School of Mechanic Arts, 4; School of Agriculture, 80; School of Home Economics, 18.

The college still remained a haven for students of limited means. So far as possible, student help was employed in the dining hall, on the farm and about the grounds. Stu- dent expenses were still kept as low as possible. There was no charge for tuition or room rent, while board, books and supplies were furnished by the institution at cost. One of President Beach's early reports indicates that a study of expenses for thirty-two students for the thirty-six weeks of the college disclosed an average cost to the student of $177.73. The highest charge on the college books to any student was $237.33, and the lowest $144.92. In commenting on student expenses and opportunities for self- help President Beach quoted from Senator Justin S. Mor-

rill in an address dealing with the Morrill Act of 1890 "The Land Grant Colleges are institutions that do not leave the cost of their instruction out of the reach of the many, nor generate habits of profuse expenditures, and are healthy homes for students, especially those outside of hereditary resources who look only to a life of honorable effort and labor." Some form of military instruction or of discipline had

been a part of the curriculum of the institution since it became the land grant college of Connecticut. Application was made soon after Mr. Beach became president for the loan of ordnance stores and for an officer to serve as professor of military science. One hundred army rifles of the Spanish War model were issued to the college from the Springfield Arsenal and the report of 1908 indicated that :

146 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

the Secretary of War had promised to inspect the college with a view to providing instruction in military science.

On September 1, 1910, James M. Churchill, First Lieu- tenant, 18th Infantry, was detailed to the college as military instructor. The requirement of the War Department had been raised from a minimum of one hundred men to one hundred and fifty, and this was used as an argument before the General Assembly for an increase in the dormitory accommodations at Storrs. New rifle pits were established at Storrs in 1910.

Faculty Salaries and Tenures

"Throw away your packing cases," was the first advice of President Beach to his faculty when he returned from Vermont to take over affairs at Storrs. Frequent up-

heavals had been the rule and it was a tradition that members of the staff kept intact the crates in which their household goods had been shipped, in the event they might be needed on short notice. Believing that a feeling of security was the first essential to efficient work, Mr. Beach took immediate steps to quiet the unrest and to assure to members of the staff opportunities for uninterrupted service. President Beach was always a believer in a salary scale that would permit members of the staff decent living conditions. While the practice of many land grant colleges has been to use increased appropriations for expansion in creating new departments or the addition of members to the staff, Mr. Beach never permitted his ambition for the growth of the institution to outweigh the practical necessity of living that college professors share in common with all other human beings. Throughout his administration faculty salary schedules were kept at a reasonably high level when the size and nature of the institution is considered. The Board of Trustees report for 1910 contains the following information on this subject :

THE MARCH ON HARTFORD 147

The maximum salary of academic professors has been advanced from $2,000 to $2,200 per annum. This action is in accordance with that of educational institutions generally. The average salary of a full professor in sixty-one privately endowed colleges as reported by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching was $2,249, and the average salary of a full professor in sixty-six state universities was $2,205.

Salaries were to be paid in twelve equal monthly installments.

Years later, Mr. Beach was to express his philosophy of the relation of the faculty to an institution. Speaking- on November 8, 1929, at a banquet tendered to Dr. George Alan Works, newly inaugurated president of the college, he said

I take no particular personal credit for this growth or development except as I used, perhaps, good judgment now and then in selecting a new member of the staff. It was the faculty that made this institution and I soon found out that if the members of the staff are happy and if they are contented and if they feel reasonably safe and secure in their positions and have an opportunity to develop their departments, they will pull a president up and push him over the top. It's the team-work

and cooperation of the faculty of an institution that make it great. If I had any advice to offer, it would be not to be a new broom; not to reform an institution too fast.

Student Life in the Pre-war Period

Student life at Storrs during the early part of this period was evidently handicapped by primitive conditions. The following on the part of a writer signing himself "The Spectator" in the Lookout of April, 1908, indicates that the students found some practical use for their lessons in physics

To some it may seem the height of absurdity for a Spectator to put serious thought on such a common article as a section of rubber tubing; but this article has reached a point of importance in the student life at this institution which cannot be lightly regarded by any of us. No student can consider his room furnishings complete without a greater or less amount of this article, obtained at, well, this would be a 148 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE digression from the subject not to be tolerated, but most likely brought from home. The ambitious youth who rises as early as seven o'clock in the morning attaches a hose to the radiator, turns on the steam and, lo! there is hot water in short order, thus saving a journey to the basement or other part of the building where it is customary to perform the task of using soap and water. After this, if the sleepy room-mate does not rise to an occasion of such great moment as breakfast, the hose can be briskly applied with an astonishingly stimulating effect. At this point we hesitate to proceed with an enumeration of the uses of rubber, but being assured that no secrets would be heard by ears except those already "wise," we proceed. Early in the course we are instructed in the principles of syphonic action which being applied to the extraction of kerosene oil from such convenient receptacles as lanterns and street lamps, the student is saved many a weary tramp to Beebe's. This item is not intended to discourage the use of the aforesaid article or to give a complete list of its many and varied uses, but rather to warn the populace that a good carried to excess will become an evil, and that nothing should be done to cause any restrictions to be placed on the use of such a useful article as the time-honored hose.

Apparently the College Dramatic Club after its active

seasons in 1907 and 1908 became inactive but it was reorganized in the fall of 1911. About the same time a Glee Club and a Mandolin Club were started and these later joined forces. These musical and dramatic organizations gave frequent entertainments at Storrs and newspaper accounts indicate that they were favorably received at South Willington, South Windsor, Mansfield Center, Manchester, Plainville and other places. The Agricultural Club was organized January 22, 1908, with G. M. Stack as president, S. A. Clark, vice-president, and A. E. Webster, secretary. A constitution was adopted and a delegate appointed to attend a meeting of the New England Federation of Agricultural Students in Boston. In commenting on the organization of this club the Look- out said: "C. A. C. is above all things an agricultural college and probably holds more agricultural students than any other state college in New England." Previous attempts had been made at the organization of such a club, but without any permanent success. :

THE MARCH ON HARTFORD 149

Social life at Storrs was increasing. The Social Com- mittee, during the school year 1911-12, became a clearing house for social and literary interests of the students. Sunday vesper services continued to be a prominent part of such activities. Five entertainments were provided during the year as follows :

1. Musicale—Male quartette from Boston. — 2. Reading "She Stoops to Conquer," Miss Edith Noyes.

3. Lecture with stereopticon views, Arctic Exploration, Frederick Macmillan. 4. Musicale—Colonial quartette and reader from Boston. 5. Lecture with stereopticon views—Wild Animals I Have Known, Ernest Thompson-Seton.

In addition to these there was a free lecture upon aeroplanes given by a member of the New York Aero Club and illustrated by stereopticon views. The college orchestra contributed much to the enjoyment of such occasions. Junior Week was established by the committee, the events of the Week including an open air "sing," a play by the College Dramatic Club, the White Duck Hop, and athletic events. The Lookout for June, 1911, had the following to say of the White Duck Hop

The White Duck Hop, held in the New Mechanic Arts Building on the evening of May 29th, was a big success. The good ventilation and large floor space were greatly appreciated by all present who had experienced the close, cramped conditions in the chapel. The committee of arrangements, consisting of Messrs. E. J. Reneham, L. B. Reed, E. L. Deming, M. V. Zappe and R. E. Tomlinson, is to be con- gratulated upon the appearance of the hall and the arrangement of the programme.

Athletics continued through this period to have its ups and downs. The difficulties of athletics were numerous, but two made especial trouble. One was the lack of suitable quarters for training indoors. This was not overcome until the completion of the Hawley Armory. The other 150 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE had to do with finances. The Lookout for February, 1914, indicates the poverty with which coaches and players had to contend:

Here the college teams are entirely supported by the athletic dues which at the best do not far overreach one thousand dollars. This thousand dollars has to equip a foot-ball team, a base-ball team and in most seasons a hockey team; to provide coaches for the same and to finance their schedules. Guarantees of course help to defray the teams' expenses while on the road, but we in turn have to pay guarantees to teams playing here. Furthermore, to have a good home schedule, we would have to play teams that are at a greater distance from the college than the ones we have been playing and consequently would have to offer larger guarantees. When we look at the matter squarely just one thing stands out; the athletic association dues alone do not furnish anywhere near the amount of money needed to properly carry on our athletic activities and some other means of revenue is necessary.

The Lookout, founded in 1896, continued for many years as the representative of news and student opinion in Storrs. The paper was printed monthly throughout its career. In the fall of 1900, Henry Ruthven Monteith came to Storrs as professor of English and history. From that time he became the patron saint of the Lookout and subsequent publications until the World War disrupted student life at Storrs.

Although formally charged by the faculty with the duties of censorship, the role of Prof. Monteith was principally that of a friend and adviser to the student editorial boards,

and his memory is a bright tradition with alumni of his period. In later years the undergraduates were to find a much lighter degree of censorship more irksome.

In the fall of 1914 the Connecticut Campus replaced the Lookout. The Campus began life as a semi-monthly paper, changing to a weekly after the war period.

The first issue of the student annual, the Nutmeg, appeared in 1915. It was dedicated to Prof. Monteith. :

THE MARCH ON HARTFORD 151

Another volume followed in 1916. The classes of 1917 and 1918 united in the publication of the third volume, and the fourth was dated 1920-21.

More About Roads and Lights

The first definite move to lift Storrs out of the mud came with an act of the General Assembly approved August 13, 1909, which appropriated a sum not to exceed $10,000 for the purpose of paying the costs of improvement to the highway between Storrs and the railroad station at Eagleville. The town of Mansfield was to maintain the highway in good repair after the improvements had been made. Under the appropriation a mile and a half of this roadway, known locally as the "North Eagleville Road," was graded and improved. The sum was insufficient to provide improvements of lasting benefit. Two short editorials from the Lookout of October, 1910, are of interest as indicating the student viewpoint on the isolation of Storrs

The beginning of the college year finds few changes on the hill.

The new cottages are ready for occupancy; but it will be some time before the opening of the new dining-room rids us of the necessity of a discrimination between the first and second tables. Notwithstanding the vigorous surveying of a year ago, and the close application of the engineering department to mapping out the new highway to Eagleville, the former apology for a road still remains our main reliance for communication with the world. The road to Willimantic, particularly the section between this hamlet and Spring Hill, has been much improved.

We have, from time to time, heard much of a motor bus that, under the superintendence of the genial Chesbro, was to make constant trips between the college and Willimantic. This highly desirable and altogether commendable enterprise seems upon the whole to have been based upon a foundation as insubstantial as the new road to Eagleville.

The General Assembly of 1911 granted an appropriation of $8,000 for the extension of electric lights to college : :

152 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE buildings. The extension was made and a three-year contract was entered into with the Willimantic Gas and Elec- tric Light Company for electric power. The report of the trustees for 1914 carries the following paragraph relative to the need of an improved highway from the college to Willimantic

It is important that the Agricultural College be accessible to the people of the state. Practically all of the passenger traffic, estimated at between six and seven thousand passengers per year, between Storrs and Willimantic, is by motor. A motor bus makes regular trips from the college to Willimantic. A good road, properly graded and surfaced so that it could be used all of the year, is much needed. If a hard surface road should be constructed, no doubt it would be economical to haul a considerable part of our freight from Willimantic, rather than from Eagleville as at present.

Gilbert Farm and Dunham Farm

Gilbert Farm, which became the property of the Con- necticut Agricultural College on April 23, 1906, continued to be a problem. An explanation of this gift is made as follows in the Board of Trustees report for 1908

Mr. Edwin Gilbert, President of the Gilbert and Bennett Manufac- turing Company of Georgetown, Fairfield County, Connecticut, realizing that the people of this state were paying the railroads vast sums of money for bringing our beef from the West, while we had hundreds of acres of good farming land in Connecticut lying practically idle, said, "Why not use this cheap land in Connecticut for raising beef?" He accordingly bought three farms on the hill east of Georgetown, known respectively as the Hohman, Schultz and Bennett places, com- prising altogether 252 acres, mainly wood land. About forty acres can be mowed or plowed, though it is very rocky land and is divided by stone walls into fields averaging about three acres each.

The Gilbert will provided that the property could not be sold but must be maintained as a farm for instruction in practical agriculture With the farm had come 1,200 shares of stock in the Gilbert and Bennett Manufacturing Company, the income of which was to be used as an endowment for the farm. A committee of trustees composed of THE MARCH ON HARTFORD 153

G. S. Palmer, L. J. Storrs and A. J. Pierpont undertook to organize the farm along the lines contemplated by Mr. Gilbert. It was decided that the purpose of the donor was primarily to show the possibilities of growing beef and mutton in Connecticut, and as rapidly as funds permitted the farm was established on a livestock basis. In 1916 a move was taken by the trustees of the college looking toward the establishment at Gilbert Farm of an agricultural school, as contemplated in the will, and a superintendent was selected for the Gilbert Farm School. It is difficult to say what the future of this venture might have been had not the approaching war turned attention to other channels. The college continued to operate the farm under the terms of the will but the farm school idea was abandoned at the outbreak of the war and has never been revived. The role of the college may be likened to that of an executor of a trust fund. No part of the income is available for use at Storrs. Another gift of a farm, this time with fewer restrictions, came to the college in 1917. The only restriction was that the farm or the money received from its sale should be used for the promotion of agriculture in the State. In a letter to President Beach, dated at Simsbury July 7, 1917, Austin C. Dunham offered as a gift to the college his New- ington farm of 135 acres, valued at $25,000. Mr. Dun- ham had built three concrete houses as a beginning of a plan to parcel out the farm in five-acre lots to families who wanted to move on to the land. The war interfered with his original plan and, as Mr. Dunham was at an advanced age, he offered the entire property to the college.

Closing Years of the Period

On June 12, 1916, the thirty-fifth anniversary of the college was observed with appropriate ceremony, the celebration having been held over from April so as to make it 154 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE a part of the commencement week activities. Twenty-nine degrees and twenty-eight diplomas were awarded at commencement the following day. A department of physical education was created in 1915 and a director appointed. Completion of the Armory provided the long-awaited facilities for athletics, in addition to an auditorium capable of housing any crowds that the college might expect. About the same time the mechanic arts course was lengthened from two to four years.

In the report of the trustees for 1915 is given the result of a study that had been made as to occupations of former students. The summary indicates that four hundred and eighty-nine of the seven hundred and eighty persons responding to the inquiry, amounting to sixty-three per cent, were engaged in agricultural occupations. It was pointed out that during the first twenty-five years of the institution's life, many students were enrolled in the preparatory department and received instruction only in academic studies. This situation existed until 1908. Inclusion of these preparatory students in the survey, it was contended, lowered the percentage engaged in agriculture. More of the recent graduates were taking up agricultural pursuits. Nevertheless, as the institution grew in age its critics became increasingly convinced that the old Storrs Agricul- tural School and later the Storrs Agricultural College had been purely agricultural in their curricula but that later administrations were departing from the faith. In the summer of 1915 a normal training school was conducted at Storrs under the direction of the State Board of Education. Three hundred and ninety-six teachers and school superintendents were in attendance. This so over- taxed the dining hall and dormitory accommodations that attendance the following summer was limited to one hundred and eighty-three. The normal training school replaced the old "summer school," neither of which was to be revived after the war. :

THE MARCH ON HARTFORD 155

Efforts to bring Storrs out of its isolation in the Mans- field hills continued to be made. The trustees' report for 1915 discussed the possibility of a spur track from the Central Vermont Railroad to the college. Railroad officials had estimated the cost of a line from Eagleville to Storrs at $65,000. The old problem of hauling coal and freight from the railroad was later to be partly settled by a hard-surfaced road, but for many years residents at Storrs visioned either a trolley line or a railroad spur track as a means of bringing Storrs in touch with the outside world. The state highway to Willimantic, built in 1916, gave the college an all-year road to Hartford. On August 16, 1917, Professor Albert Gurdon Gulley died after twenty-three years of service with the institution. The Hartford Times of August 17, 1917, contains the following brief account of his life and connection with the college

Professor Gulley was born in Dearborn, Michigan, July 15, 1848. He graduated from the Michigan Agricultural college in 1868 with the degree of bachelor of science, and in 1873 received the degree of master of science for post graduate work. He was assistant in horticulture at the Michigan Agricultural college four years and one year horticulturist at the Vermont Experiment Station.

Professor Gulley came to the Connecticut Agricultural college in 1894. He had conducted his courses with great success and was much beloved by the students who have been under his guidance. He had taken an active part in the promotion of the fruit growing interests of the state and was a frequent lecturer at farmers' institutes and meetings of similar nature. He was a former president of the Connecticut Pomological society.

For many years the old Main Building, Chemistry Laboratory and Gold Hall had crowned the crest of the col-

lege hill, representing the principal educational facilities of the college. In 1914 Gold Hall had been destroyed by

fire, and the college suffered its second notable loss on the night of November 27, 1917, when the Chemistry Labora- tory burned. The old Main Building, which occupied a 156 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

site between these other frame structures, seems to have

borne a charmed life, for it passed successfully through both these baptisms of fire to say nothing of later experiences of its own, only to be torn down in 1929. The story of the laboratory fire is told in the November 27, 1917, issue of the Hartford Courant:

A fire, whose cause is unknown, destroyed the chemical laboratory- building at the Connecticut Agricultural college, early this morning. The loss amounted to about $30,000, partially covered by insurance.

President Beach said after the fire that no time would be lost in obtaining a temporary laboratory so that the work of the college year would surfer no serious interruption, and equipment is already being installed in the old chapel in the main building. President Beach today received from Richard M. Bissell, chairman of the State Council of Defense, a letter expressing the appreciation of the council for the action of the college trustees in voting to suspend construction work in favor of work necessary to the prosecution of the war.

Within an hour after the fire was discovered, at about 3 o'clock this morning, the laboratory building was burned to the ground. The fire was first noticed by the college community watchman, who rang the bell on the administration building as an alarm. The students responded with fire drill discipline and manned lines of hose which were supplied with water from the tank on the hill north of the college. Despite the freezing temperature, barely five degrees above zero, and the high wind that blew the water about at the same time that it directed the flames to the main building, the fire fighters stood to their task and saved the larger structure from further damage than a scorching.

The laboratory building was erected about twenty-five years ago, one of the first to be set up on the campus. It was a wooden structure, about 40 by 60 feet, ground plan, and two stories in height. It contained the chemical laboratories of the college and of the experiment station.

Apparently the first attempt to interest high school seniors in the college by a formally organized "High School Day" was that reported in the Hartford Sunday

Courant of June 6, 1915 :

About 100 principals and members of the senior classes from about twenty high schools of the state attended a "High School Day" program of entertainment at the Connecticut Agricultural College today. They were the guests of the faculty and the senior class of the college and the idea was to interest the coming graduates, both boys and girls Dormitories for Men

Inset—Gold Hall, Erected in 1890. Destroyed by Fire in 1914. Upper—Storrs Hall, Erected in 1906. Middle—Koons Hall, Erected in 1913. Lozver—William Henry Hall Dormitory, Completed in 1927. <

o 5 > O 0> u j-. >> 3 TO ffl Q 3 MH 1 o o CO m

u> £h :

THE MARCH ON HARTFORD 157 of high schools, to notice the advantages of advanced studies at the state college which may be had at little cost. The high school students arrived on the morning trains in Willimantic, where automobiles met them to convey them to the college seven miles distant. They were met at the station by Leonard H. Healey, chairman of the commitee on receiving guests.

On May 16, 1917, was approved an act of the General Assembly which read as follows

An Act Establishing Scholarships at the Connecticut Agricultural College

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:

Section 1. The board of trustees of the Connecticut agricultural college is authorized to establish at least two' scholarships from each county, not exceeding one hundred dollars per annum, for the benefit of students at said college, and to make such regulations as may be necessary to carry out the purpose of this act.

Sec. 2. The sum of four thousand dollars is appropriated to carry out the provisions of this act until September 30, 1919.

In April, 1917, the Connecticut Editorial Association held its spring- meeting at Storrs, and press accounts indicate that the visitors were much impressed with what they saw there, particularly the efforts which the college was making to organize itself effectively for war work.

America entered the World War on April 6, 1917, and with it Connecticut and its agricultural college. The event marked a new era in the affairs of Connecticut Agricultural College. From that date the school's opinion of itself and the State's opinion of the school underwent a change. CHAPTER VIII

THE COLLEGE DURING THE WAR

IN common with all other land grant colleges, the Con- necticut Agricultural College was equipped to make a quick and important contribution to the nation's resources. Military science as a required subject had been imposed in the Land Grant Act of 1862. This fact has usually been attributed to the circumstance of the Civil War, which was in progress when the act was passed. There is evidence, however, that the military character of land grant colleges was rooted much deeper than that. Practically all of the earlier suggestions for such a system contemplated military training and for much the same reasons that had led to the establishment of West Point. A nation that maintains but a small standing army has need of officer- material in the event of war and it was natural that any federal system of colleges should be expected to share such a responsibility. Military science had been taught at

Storrs since 1893, when it became a land grant college, and by 1917 the college had a considerable body of students and graduates trained in the rudiments of military science and tactics.

The spring of 1917 brought for the first time since the Civil War a major test of the military efficiency of the land grant college system. Great as was the military contribution of these colleges during the World War it was soon found that it was not in the training of fighting men that they were best prepared to serve the nation. It was true of Connecticut, as of other states, that the greater contributions of the land grant college in the war was made in the scientific supervision of food production and conservation.

That the little land grant college in Connecticut was on THE COLLEGE DURING THE WAR 159

edge even before war was declared, is evident from student publications and newspaper dispatches of the period. As early as March, 1917, the following appeared in the Hartford Courant:

Storrs Boys Ready to Aid Country

Storrs, March 28.—Members of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps here are being well versed in military drill and tactics so that in the event of a call for volunteers, 150 well -trained young men will be ready in turn to train volunteers for the army.

Several seniors are contemplating taking the exams for the regular army in April, the appointments to be awarded in June. A number of others will be graduated into the Reserve Officers' Corps in June so that it is expected that Connecticut will furnish about twenty commissioned officers in the event of actual warfare.

Another dispatch to the same paper of April 1 tells of a "pepfest" held by the Students' Organization in which the students unanimously voted to stand behind the faculty in a move to put the college on a strict military basis. Captain Amory, U. S. A., addressed the meeting.

The college continued to carry on its regular courses throughout the school year of 1917-18 although with a much reduced attendance because of students who had entered service and the demand for labor on farms and in war industries. Fourteen members of the class of 1918 were granted bachelor of science degrees with their class "for service in arms." The exact number of graduates and former students who entered military service is difficult to determine. One edition of the Campus, printed after the Armistice, gave the number as five hundred and eighty-three but there seems no question but that this included a considerable number from the Students' Army Training Corps. The Catalog of 1919-20 carried a list of all the names then obtainable of former students who had entered service and this list totals four hundred and twenty-six. 160 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

From the latter source is taken the following list of former students who died in service :

Billings Theophilus Avery, Jr.

Disease contracted in line of duty-

Died in France, June 18, 1918.

George Winthrop Bourn, Jr.

Chateau-Thierry, France

Killed in action, July 26, 1918.

Harry Lightbody Clinton

Meuse-Argonne, France

Killed in action, Sept. 28, 1918.

Charles Arbid Johnson

Argonne Forest, France

Killed in action, Oct. 8, 1918.

Fred Gregory Lyon

Gassed in the Argonne Forest

Died at Allerey, France, Dec. 3, 1918.

Arthur Brunson Stephenson

Carruther's Field, Texas

Killed in aeroplane accident, Sept. 10, 1918.

Richard Arnold Storrs

Wounded in action

Died at Vertuzy, France, Nov. 13, 1918. :

THE COLLEGE DURING THE WAR 161

To attempt to chronicle the part the college played in food production and conservation would occupy more of the reader's time than is perhaps justified. The record may be found in the reports of the Board of Trustees of the period.

The college worked very closely with the State Council of Defense and subsidiary organizations. Under the stimulus of war demands the work of the Extension Ser- vice was greatly enlarged and through the various county Farm Bureaus farm production was highly organized. Through the Committee of Food Supply, contacts were made with organizations in the cities that fostered not only canning and food conservation but "emergency war planting." No one knows quite the extent to which "War Gar- dens" took hold, but in the spring of 1917 more than 30,000 emergency food producers received some form of instruction from the college workers. This phase of the work increased as the war continued, until it reached the intensity of a mania, "War Gardens" being planted in every spot of land available. Pigs rode in limousines to fattening pens on fashionable estates and sheep were pastured on lawns that had been held little short of sacred. Agricultural bulletins and circulars were printed in vast editions to meet the needs of city folks who were convinced that "Food will win the war." It was the heyday of the county agent and the agricultural "specialist," and the campus of the agricultural college was truly the confines of the State. In the Biennial Report of the Trustees, issued at the close of 1918, an attempt was made to summarize the activities of the college in the war, as follows

Shortly after the Declaration of War by Congress, the Trustees offered to the State Food Committee and later to the Connecticut State Council of Defense and to the State Federal Food Administrator, the services of the faculty and the resources of the Institution for the dura- tion of the war. (1) In the summer of 1917, Short Courses in Home Economics were offered at the college under the supervision of the Extension Division and instruction given in canning and food conserva- 162 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

tion. The schools were attended by twenty men and more than five hundred women. (2) During the summer of 1918 the College gave instruction in agriculture to members of the Boy's Working Reserve. Three camps were held at Storrs, with a total enrollment of two hundred, the boys occupying the College dormitories and boarding at the Dining Hall. After a two weeks' period of training, they were assigned to farms and supervised by Mr. Arthur Howe, Director of the Boy's Working Reserve. (3) In the fall of 1918 the Trustees entered into a contract with the War Department to train a unit of four hundred men who were prospective candidates for Commissioned and Non-commissioned Officers' Training Schools. (4) The activities of the Exten- sion Division were enlarged and extended, several members of the staff were assigned to the office of the State Food Committee and the Federal Food Administrator and were helpful in organizing and conducting the campaigns for stimulating increased food production and conservation.

The same report listed the following members of the college staff who were in military service : George S.

Torrey, Instructor in Botany ; Glenn H. Campbell, Instruc- tor in Dairy Husbandry; Anna M. Wallace, Instructor in

Kuelling, Instructor in Dairying ; Helen English ; John A. Bishop, Instructor in Home Economics; Max F. Abel, Instructor in Agronomy; Harry B. Alger, Instructor in Dairy Husbandry; Henry D. Munroe, Poultry' Depart- ment; Hugh B. Price, Instructor in Agricultural Econom-

ics ; Frank P. Miller, Foreman of Farm.

Herbert J. Baker, director of the Extension Service, left Storrs in December, 1918, to join the Army Overseas Educational Commission. He continued in charge of the farm school at Allerey, France, until the troops were demobilized and the school abandoned the following summer.

The Students' Army Training Corps

The most ambitious plan undertaken by the college during the war was in connection with the Students' Army Training Corps. Under authority of a special act of Con- gress which permitted the President to increase the military establishment, the War Department instituted a plan of :

THE COLLEGE DURING THE WAR 163 utilizing the equipment and teaching staffs of some six hundred colleges and technical schools. The Connecticut Agricultural College was accepted as one of the schools to provide such training and contract was entered into with the War Department. The Catalog for 1918-19, issued in July, 1918, announced the usual courses. With the entrance into the picture of the Students' Army Training Corps, popularly called the S. A. T. C, the Catalog by September was very much out of date. There were no courses for men at Storrs in the fall of 1918 that were not a part of the military preparation. The quota agreed upon for Storrs was four hundred men. When the announcements appeared in the newspapers more than five hundred applications were received. The actual number enrolled during the period was four hundred and eleven but for various reasons only two hundred and seventy-eight were inducted into service.

Students inducted into the S. A. T. C. became a part of the military service of the United States. They were subject to assignment to an officers' training school, non- commissioned officers' school, to a cantonment for duty with troops as privates, or to further study at the institution where they were enrolled or to any other school for further technical training. The War Department assumed the cost of quartering, subsistence, and military instruction. The students received $30 a month, the pay of a private in the army. Under this plan the academic year was to be divided into terms of three months each; students twenty years of age were to receive three months' training, those nineteen years of age, six months' training, and those eighteen years, nine months' training. The instruction included not only military training but studies in allied subjects calculated to help provide an army of experts which the war service was beginning to demand. The following course of study was approved .

164 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

Total Hours of Instruction 20 yrs. of 19 yrs. of 18 yrs. of Subjects age age age Military Instruction 132 264 396 War Issues and English 108 216 324 Military Law 108 108 108 Sanitation and Hygiene 108 144 144 Surveying and Mapmaking 144 144 144 Assigned reinforcement study 366 Meteorology 108 108 French, German or Chemistry 288 288

Descriptive Geometry and Drawing . 144

Geography of Europe . 108

Trigonometry and Logarithms . 144

Total 966 1,272 1,908

The system very effectively put the college on a war foot- ing. Military discipline ruled throughout. The plan had a double merit—it assured the army of a source of future recruits, trained in war-making, and it enabled a great many young men to continue their education until such time as they would be needed for service.

The first call for physical examination and induction was set for September 24 to 28, but the contract surgeon, Dr.

Simonds, was ill of influenza and the boys had a choice of remaining for voluntary, unpaid service, or returning home. Fifty-five elected to remain. A second call on October 8 was cancelled because of the spread of influenza but a final call was issued for October 21 to 24 and the full quota was enrolled at that time. The War Department detailed a staff of army officers to teach the military subjects while the regular college faculty taught the other courses. Many of the college students were back but now enrolled in the S. A. T. C. It was a lively group. Group singing was encouraged and the strains of "Pack up Your Troubles" or "Mr. Zipp-Zipp- Zipp," as well as other war songs, were frequently heard. The dormitories were supplemented by temporary barracks THE COLLEGE DURING THE WAR 165 and in spite of influenza scares everybody seemed to have a good time.

The dining- hall in the present Mechanic Arts building was the main center of congestion. Meals were arranged on the cafeteria plan, or "grabateria" as referred to in an issue of the Campus, and as unmarried members of the faculty, stenographers, co-eds, and various other persons had to eat at the same place, the small dining hall was anything but a place for quiet reflection.

Sports had a place, of minor importance it is true, on the S. A. T. C. schedule. Owing to the lateness of the season only one football game was played, in which Company A won from Company B. Company B returned the compli- ment in basketball, however. At least one basketball game was played with the Submarine Base team, in which the S. A. T. C. was triumphant. The basketball teams were getting under way in earnest when the Armistice ended the Students' Army Training Corps. A minstrel show was given by the student soldiers and the group was successfully adjusting itself to the combination of army and college life when the end came.

Storrs had its own wild scenes of excitement when news of the Armistice arrived. The power house whistle went on a debauch, the Main Building bell rang valiantly, "Mr. Zipp-Zipp-Zipp" echoed back from the hills and there was speechmaking and flag waving. That night a monster bonfire was lighted on Vineyard Hill and, following tab- leaus and stunts by the soldiers, faculty and co-eds, "Kaiser Bill" was brought up for trial, found guilty of divers crimes and thrown into the flaming pile.

A Military Ball, Friday, December 13, wound up the program of the S. A. T. C. and the organization was demobilized December 17. Many of the boys planned to enter college again as soon as the regular courses were opened. 166 the connecticut agricultural college

Betty Co-ed During the War

Twenty-five girls attended the college during the year 1917-18. The School of Home Economics (a short course) was abandoned that year, although girls already enrolled were permitted to finish their course.

More than forty girls registered during the fall of 1918. Five girls took a short course in milk-testing the same fall. Several "Farmerettes," some of them members of the Land Army Unit, took short courses in agriculture. The college girls had taken a hand in making maple sugar in the spring of 1918 and came to the rescue of the apple crop that fall.

The few girls who had attended the college in former years had taken a back seat in student activities, except for dramatics, but with the boys either away or in the S. A. T. C. they undertook the task of keeping alive such activities as they could. They organized a staff to publish

the Campus, their first issue being Volume V, No. 1, November 29, 1918. This they continued until February when the boys took over most of the editorial positions, although Gladys Daggett continued as business manager after Helen Clark, editor, yielded her post. Incidentally, the girls made several hundred dollars profit on their ven-

ture in the publishing field, which is more than many staffs before and since have been able to do.

On November 21, 1918, the girls held a meeting at Grove Cottage and organized for self-government. On December 2, the constitution for the Women's Student Government Association was adopted.

"Back to Normalcy"

With the war over, the college began to take stock and to make plans for the resumption of its normal activities. THE COLLEGE DURING THE WAR 167

The General Assembly of 1917 had appropriated $100,000 to the college for building's and improvements. Bids had been received for the construction of a dining hall, infirmary and four faculty cottages. However, the war was on and the Council of Defense asked the college to defer building operations except for one cottage until after the conclusion of the war. Meanwhile the Chemical Laboratory had burned, leaving the institution with more cramped quarters than ever. The chapel in the Main Building was fitted up as a chemical laboratory and some of the Experiment Station work was sent to the station at New Haven. The faculty overflow was housed in the only quarters available, some of them highly unsatisfactory. The new dining hall and other improvements had been looked forward to and now that the ban was off building, costs were up tremendously. Part of the money was used to buy houses near the campus and the Rosebrooks farm was purchased. The General Assembly of 1917 had accepted the federal Smith-Hughes* Act and designated the Connecticut Agri- cultural College as the institution for the training of teachers in agriculture and home economics and for the supervision of agricultural instruction in the high schools. The college was looking forward to the responsibility involved in the act. The Land Grant Act, the Hatch Act and the Smith-Lever Act had each contributed definite characteristics to the school as to all others of its kind. Here was a new act that promised to add duties inherent in a normal school or teachers' college. The school was growing by accretion and the General Assembly was con- tinuing to accept legally obligations of federal law which many of its citizens still refused to accept in principle.

The first duty, obviously, was to demobilize mentally and to get back into the swing of a peace-time college. Many of the young men had suffered an interruption of their college studies. Consideration had to be given them. On 168 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

December 30, 1918, the regular course of instruction was resumed, with two terms of twelve weeks each succeeding the two-semester plan as originally scheduled. Academic credit v/as to be given students who had completed the first term of the S. A. T. C. course. Application was made and granted for the establishment of a Reserve Officers' Train- ing Corps and an officer was detailed from the War Department to serve as commandant and professor of military science. Under the war stimulus the college had expanded in many lines. The faculty had a new conception of the destiny of the institution. Alumni pride had been greatly stimulated and both students and alumni expected the school to go forward. Many residents of the State had been impressed with the possibilities of the institution at

Storrs and were willing to see it grow. However, the old forces of opposition were anything but dead. The spectre of a state university still alarmed some taxpayers, certain alumni of other schools continued to fear "competition," and the exponents of an intensely practical and restricted farm school were determined that the school should not waver in its fidelity to agriculture.

President Beach faced a much more difficult situation in 1919 than he had in 1908. With a poker face and most of the cards under the table, he sat into the game with friend and foe alike. He had a plan and no one else had, but for the next six years he continued to be the least vocal of anyone concerned. CHAPTER IX

CULTURAL OR AGRICULTURAL?

MOMENTUM gathered during the war had its effect upon the growth and development of the college for two years immediately following. The General Assembly of 1919 was in a generous mood, the college enjoyed a sustained popularity in the State, and the hopes and aspira- tions of students and alumni soared to new levels. During the two years the stage was being set for the longest and hardest fight of the school's career but there was little in the events at Storrs or in press comment throughout the State to presage such an experience. "Four hundred students by 1920" had been a slogan adopted by students and alumni several years before the war and there were many who thought that only this interruption had prevented attainment of the goal. With the resumption of regular courses in January, 1919, came a revival of the slogan. Coincident with this goal was a campaign to change the name to "State College." Similar movements were on foot in other New England states. A review of the student and alumni arguments for the change indicates that the purpose was not so much to minimize agricultural instruction as to obviate the impression then held so widely in the east that an "agricultural college" is of farm school rather than college grade. It was contended that graduates of the college were handicapped in consideration for teaching or business positions by the current impression that an agricultural college fitted only for actual farm operations. The administration was not ready to join the student and alumni movement for an application to the 1919 session of the General Assembly for change of name. There was no ;

170 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

time to feel out the sentiment of the State and a premature campaign might prejudice the chances of appropriations then pending. As usual, student enthusiasm gave way to the plea of expediency.

The General Assembly of 1919

Publication of the State Board of Finance's report, embodying its recommendations on the State budget, was eagerly awaited. In bold type the issue of the Campus of February 7, 1919, presented a summary of the board's recommendations concerning the college. These included increases from $105,000 to $160,000 in biennial appropriation for college maintenance, from $15,000 to $25,000 for the Experiment Station and from $30,000 to $134,000 for the Extension Service. The report indicated a generous policy toward the college and the recommendations were accepted by the General Assembly. The trustees had also asked for $260,580 in building appropriations for the Dining Hall, a Woman's Building, Infirmary, and four faculty cottages. The Board of Finance made no recommendations on buildings but the General Assembly appropriated $162,095 as follows: Dining Hall, $66,600; Infirmary $8,320; Faculty Cottages, $62,700; Drainage

of land, $6,400 ; Temporary Chemical Laboratory, $10,000 Equipment for Chemical Laboratory, $5,000; and Poultry Building, $3,075. Later, when bids for the construction of the Dining Hall and the Infirmary were opened, it was found that the appropriations were inadequate. The State Board of Control authorized the transfer of the appropriation for the Chemi- cal Laboratory to the Dining Hall and granted an additional $37,966, which provided a total of $122,886 for the two buildings. The attitude of the General Assembly of 1919 toward CULTURAL OR AGRICULTURAL? 171

the college was even more generous than this resume- of maintenance and building appropriations would indicate. Three other acts of the same session must be considered as indicating the immediate post-war sentiment toward the school.

Water supply had been a problem at Storrs since the early days when water was obtained on rental from a well owned by Augustus Storrs. The deep well back of the Main Building, which had been the occasion of much early controversy, was proving inadequate to the needs of a growing institution and the fire hazard impressed itself on the minds of practical legislators. The Mansfield State Training School and Hospital, four miles away, was growing even more rapidly than the institution at Storrs and was also faced with a difficult problem of water supply. The General Assembly appropriated $130,000 for the purchase of a farm of 130 acres half way between the institutions, and for the construction of a dam and pumping station to utilize the water from a small brook to provide a joint water supply. So confident was everyone concerned that this step was to solve the water problem of both institutions that in their 1920 Biennial Report the college trus-

tees remarked optimistically : "This plant, when completed, will provide an adequate supply for both institutions." Prominent among Connecticut's war-time efforts was the movement to bring sheep back to the New England hills. In response to a popular and somewhat sentimental clamor for restoring sheep raising, the General Assembly made an appropriation for the purchase of a 200-acre farm at Spring Hill, near the college, and passed an act providing an annual appropriation of $10,000 to be divided as fol-

lows : $2,000 for investigation, $3,000 toward the maintenance of an Extension sheep specialist, and $5,000 for the operation of the farm and a demonstration flock. Management of the farm was entrusted to the college and the land became part of the college holdings. 172 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

Another act of 1919, relating to the retirement of teachers in State institutions, admitted the college to the State system of annuities and pensions. Membership became compulsory for all teachers beginning service after June 30, 1919. An assessment of five percent was levied on annual salaries. Under this law a teacher became eligi- ble for retirement upon reaching the age of sixty, or under sixty after thirty-five years of service in the school system of Connecticut.

High School Day

Numerous plans were devised by the faculty Publicity Committee and various student organizations to interest the youth of Connecticut in the institution, designated in all propaganda as "Your State College." The most ambitious scheme was one for a High School Day, originating in the Publicity Committee and carried out by a special committee under the chairmanship of Prof. G. H. Lamson. May 24, 1919, was set for the big day. Every high school senior in the State, as well as high school teachers, received an official invitation to attend the event. The students issued a twelve-page special edition of the Campus, containing campus views and feature stories about the work of the institution, and this was sent to the seniors as "follow-up" advertising. The very success of this venture came near proving a boomerang. As the acceptances began to roll in, the committee frantically revised its plans. In all, nine hundred and sixty-two high school students and teachers visited the college on High School Day, and this was more than twice the normal population of Storrs. Every automobile in Storrs, including the facilities of the Storrs Garage, was impressed into service. Students were met at Willimantic and transported by car or bus to Storrs, drivers making CULTURAL OR AGRICULTURAL? 173 return trips for new loads without regard to speed limits.

The dining hall established a new record, with its limited equipment, feeding the crowd in an hour and fifty minutes. Fair weather prevailed, which was providential, as there was hardly room enough indoors for everyone. The baseball game between Trinity and the college team resulted in a victory for Storrs, 4 to 0, in a pitching duel long remembered locally. Other events of the day went off smoothly, including a dance in the evening. Many of the visitors remained over night, and a section of one of the men's dormitories was set aside for the girls. Emergency sleep- ing quarters were provided in various buildings and faculty homes extended the limit of their hospitality. The college men gave up their rooms and slept in pup tents, barns and out in the open. Just how far the success of High School Day was responsible for increased enrollment the next fall would be difficult to say because colleges generally began to grow tremendously following the war, but registration at Storrs went from two hundred and one to three hundred and fifty- four between June and September.

The School Year of 1919-20

Two fires occurred at Storrs during the summer vacation of 1919. The first of these destroyed the dairy barn on the night of July 6. While the ruins were still smoking, fire broke out in Grove Cottage, dormitory for women, in mid-day, July 8. A valiant effort was made to save the building and the Willimantic fire department made a quick run, but the frame structure burned rapidly. Destruction of Grove Cottage was a severe blow. Regis- tration in home economics was increasing rapidly and the fire left the institution without laboratories or housing accommodations for young women. The building had 174 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE been one of the early group of frame structures that constituted the pride of Storrs in the late nineties. Gold Hall had been first to burn, followed by the Chemical Labora- tory. The old Main Building continued to stand, alone of the entire group. It weathered this fire, as previous ones, to say nothing of various incipient blazes of its own. The Board of Trustees mailed a letter to each member of the previous General Assembly to sound out sentiment on a plan to borrow $140,000 to replace Grove Cottage and the dairy barn. A majority of the replies were favorable but the plan was so contrary to the established order that the trustees were finally constrained to drop the suggestion.

The college opened with greatly increased enrollment but with makeshift accommodations for the young women students. The Campus began publication weekly instead of twice a month and student activities generally experienced increased enthusiasm.

Hardly had school affairs gotten under way before the student body and community received a shock in news of the death of Gardner Dow of New Haven, who, as a member of the Connecticut Agricultural College team, was killed while making a tackle in a football game with the University of New Hampshire at Durham, September 27, 1919. The present athletic field at the college owes its name to this event.

The fall of 1919 witnessed the first steps in the project for a new community church to replace the ancient edifice that antedated the school by many years. According to the Campus of October 17, 1919, the church project was originally the suggestion of Mrs. Beach to the Rev. Mar- shall Dawson. As originally planned, the project was for a single building to house the church and related activities. The winter of 1920 was unusually severe. Early in February came exceptionally heavy snows. The State Highway Department had not yet organized its efficient CULTURAL OR AGRICULTURAL? 175

system of keeping roads open and for nearly six weeks it was impossible to get a motor car in or out of Storrs. All traffic was by horse-drawn sleds to Willimantic or Eagleville. The lower end of the Willimantic road was finally opened and President Beach, members of the faculty and the young men students attacked the drifts at the Storrs end. The last drifts were shovelled through and Storrs again emerged from the horse age.

The Pilgrimage

Cornell University had developed an interesting plan of inviting various state organizations and groups to visit and inspect the institution and to make recommendations concerning future trends. At the January, 1920, meeting of the Board of Trustees, the Cornell plan was discussed and authority was given the college administration to institute some such project in Connecticut.

Ten state organizations were invited to send delegates to a meeting at* Storrs. The Alumni Association and the Farm Bureaus were asked to name eight men and eight women each. The Editorial Association, Head Masters' Association, Home Economics Association, Manufacturers' Association, the State Board of Agriculture, the agricultural societies, State Chamber of Commerce, and State Grange, were each invited to send eight delegates. The name adopted for the plan was "The Pilgrimage," and the date set for the meeting at Storrs was May 26, 1920. Of the eighty-eight persons invited to participate, sixty actually came to Storrs. At this meeting The Pil- grimage was divided into fourteen departmental committees, each of which was to study a phase of college work and to prepare a report for the executive committee, which was to summarize the reports and present them to the Board of Trustees. Seven persons were selected to serve ;

176 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE on each of the departmental committees, which were as follows : Administration and Library ; Agronomy and

Agricultural Engineering ; Animal Husbandry and Farm Dairy; Experiment Station; Extension Service; Farm

Management and Agricultural Economics ; Home Econom- ics; Horticulture, Forestry, Vegetable Gardening, Land- scaping and Apiculture; Mechanical Engineering; Aca- demic Studies ; Poultry ; Science ; and Student Activities and Accommodations. Some of the committees went very deeply into the problems confronting them and gave generously of their time and thought. A summary of the recommendations of the fourteen departmental committees showed a total of $2,086,678 proposed for new buildings and equipment.

The executive committee included : Everett G. Hill,

Hartford, Chairman; C. J. Abell, Lebanon; Mrs. H. M. Bernard, Rocky Hill; Arthur E. Bowers, Manchester; Frank S. Hitchcock, New London; and Nathan D. Prince, Hartford. The executive committee made no attempt in its report to itemize building needs of the institution but placed a science building as first consideration and a men's dormitory as second. The committee stressed especially the necessity of an increased salary scale at the institution to meet the rapidly rising cost of living. A flat increase of $500 a year to college salaries was recommended, with the expressed hope that the General Assembly might see its way clear to do better than that.

Appropriation for Woman's Building

A special session of the General Assembly was called late in the summer of 1920 to consider, among other things, ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitu- tion. The college took advantage of the special session to make a strong plea for a Woman's Building to provide CULTURAL OR AGRICULTURAL? 177 dormitory accommodations for girl students and laboratories in home economics to meet the crisis that had been occasioned the summer before by the burning of Grove Cottage.

All hope for action had practically been lost when, in the closing days of the session, William Henry Hall of South Willington, a member of the Board of Trustees, succeeded in rushing through the Assembly an appropriation of $335,000 for construction and equipment of a Woman's Building. This Act, approved September 21, 1920, paved the way for increased enrollment by providing for the first time adequate facilities for young women students. Work on the building was begun within a short time and rushed so as to be ready for occupancy in the fall of 1921. The building was named Holcomb Hall, in honor of Mar- cus H. Holcomb, war-time governor, who signed the appropriation bill.

The Big Fight

Politics were seething as school opened in the fall of 1920. All the high ideals and cooperative spirit which America had built up during the war were put to a severe test in the conflicting opinions over the proposed entry of the United States into the League of Nations, which was the principal issue in the presidential campaign that fall. College students were much interested in the political problems of the campaign and the Connecticut Agricultural College, as was true of many other institutions, held a straw vote. The committee in charge of assembly programs conceived the idea that it would be of educational value to the students to hear the opposing views from recognized leaders of the League and anti-League forces. Wil- liam Howard Taft was invited to speak before the student body in defense of the Republican stand against the League. Hamilton Holt was asked to present the League :

178 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE of Nations case. Mr. Taft was unable to come, but Mr. Holt did come and made an impassioned plea for the League and the Democratic ticket. Innocently enough conceived, the plan resulted disastrously. The Hamilton Holt incident was stressed in State politics far beyond its actual importance. Armed with The Pilgrimage committee reports, the Board of Trustees went before the State Board of Finance with a greatly expanded budget. The college presented the following requests for maintenance : College Division, $369,145; Extension Service, $220,000; Experiment Sta- tion, $50,000. Requests for capital investment included $250,000 for a men's dormitory and other improvements amounting in all to $429,900. When the printed report of the State Board of Finance was made available to the newspapers, the college again found itself on the first page and in many newspapers in headlines that recalled the unpleasant days of the Yale- Storrs Controversy and the "War of the Rebellion." The report itself was couched in restrained language but the flood of newspaper comment was in many cases far from restrained. Following is the text of the report as it concerned the Connecticut Agricultural College

AGRICULTURE

The Connecticut Agricultural College has made requests for maintenance and extension work aggregating $606,728.64. In our recommendations this amount has been reduced in the sum of $239,228.64. The request for carrying on the work of the Extension Department has been reduced to $100,000. It will be recalled that in our last report recommendations for this department were made to equal the federal grant. Since that time the federal grants have been reduced, and our present recommendations call for a proportionate reduction on the part of the State, and in keeping with pre-war conditions.

The College has at present an enrollment of approximately three hundred fifty students. Of these, only about fifty are enrolled in the School of Agriculture. Three hundred are pursuing academic, scientific, and domestic science courses. We are further informed that of the student body seventy percent comes from the cities and thirty per- CULTURAL OR AGRICULTURAL? 179

cent from the rural districts. We believe that the present is an oppor- tune time for the General Assembly to define the policy and purpose of this institution. If it is intended that it shall be a school of agriculture or an agricultural college, then the present equipment of land and buildings will be sufficient for many years to come; if, on the other hand, it is the policy of the State to develop a university in competition with colleges within our borders, many new buildings will have to be erected and equipment made to conform to the needs of such an institution.

Around a table in the president's office there gathered a small group of department heads one evening early in 1921 with a copy of the Hartford Times, containing the text of the report, before them. It was easy to understand how the State Board of Finance had made its mistake as to enrollment figures, but it was equally apparent that its members were not in the generous mood toward the college that had been evident two years before. In addition to the specific charges, the report raised fundamental questions that had long been dormant. It was more than apparent that the session of the General Assem- bly then in progress was going to be interesting and that Storrs must again organize for battle. Senator William H. Hall of Wellington, a member of the Board of Trustees, gave out an interview in the Hart- ford Courant of February 13 showing how the State Board of Finance had been confused by unfortunate terminology in the Catalog into accepting the fifty-one students in the twenty weeks short course, designated the "School of Agri- culture," as the total of students studying agriculture. He pointed out that actually two hundred and seventy-one of the three hundred and fifty-four students were so engaged. This explanation, as well as statements issued from Storrs, fell largely on deaf ears. In the weeks that followed publication of the State Board of Finance Report, the college faced the first major campaign of newspaper disapproval in twenty years. This time the Hartford Courant led the opposition to the college, outdoing in the vitriolic intensity of its attack the best 180 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE efforts of even that tried and trusted opponent, the New Haven Register.

Enterprising reporters were set to work on the Catalog, the Biennial Report and even the reports of The Pilgrimage committees for material. The question of whether Storrs was "cultural or agricultural" was attacked from every con- ceivable angle. There appeared in the Catalog a two-hour course in news writing, given for the benefit of students working on the Campus or engaged in newspaper correspondence, and this was expanded by the Courant into a "School of Journalism." Editorial writers wanted to know what farmers needed with courses on "Recent English Literature," or with French, German and Spanish.

The college had incurred a small deficit in operating expenses in the past biennium and about $35,000 of federal funds for the Extension Service had been transferred temporarily to the college account. It was necessary to go before the Board of Control for an emergency appropriation to replace this transfer. The Board of Control was in an indignant mood. The college officials were accused of misappropriating federal funds. This was more fuel for the war correspondents at Hartford.

On February 18, the appropriations committee visited the college on its rounds of State institutions. The committee found much to condemn and little to commend. Governor Lake, who had accompanied the committee, was quoted in a press dispatch as saying that in his inspection of the library he had found dust on the agricultural books and none on the works of fiction, indicating the tastes of the student body. As many of the agricultural books were hopelessly out-of-date, this comment furnished an interesting subject for discussion pro and con and the incident remains one of the classic traditions in the controversial history of Storrs.

Not all of the newspaper comment was anti-Storrs. CULTURAL OR AGRICULTURAL? 181

Friends of the college rushed to its defense. Allen B. Lin- coln of Eastford, Willimantic and Hartford, who has a record of forty years of championship of Storrs and who has wielded a trenchant pen in all the major controversies for that period, came valiantly to the defense of the college, even to the dust on some of the agricultural books. Stu- dents and alumni, aghast at the apparent disregard of the critics for exact facts, wrote letters to leading papers pre- senting what they considered the true nature of events. Among the contributors of pro-Storrs sentiments were two Yale men. One was a graduate of Sheffield Scientific School, who had inherited and was operating a farm and found his chief reliance in the Extension Service, and the other was a graduate of the Law School who had taken a short course in agriculture at Storrs better to enable him to operate a farm. These men insisted that there was "no dust on the professors." The smaller newspapers, particularly, were inclined to champion or at least defend Storrs, and one editor of a weekly paper was bold enough to insist that if Storrs was not seeking to become a state university it at least ought to be. Again the Grange came to the defense of the college but this time it had a powerful ally in the Farm Bureaus. Together these organizations engineered a hearing before the appropriations committee on February 24 and filled the hall of the House of Representatives to overflowing. All efforts to hold the hearing to a set program failed as men and women clamored to be heard in defense of the college. A few weak voices raised in opposition were drowned out in the flood of oratory in defense of Storrs. When, after several hours of vigorous championship of the college the

hall was again cleared, it was patent to everyone that the

little institution in the hills of Mansfield had won another fight. The farm voice of Connecticut had made itself heard in the State Capitol and the backbone of the opposition was broken. For an extended account of this hearing 182 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE the reader may refer to the March, 1921, issue of the National Grange Monthly. Appropriations for maintenance for the biennium were as follows: College Division, $350,000; Experiment Sta- tion, $35,000; Extension Service, $135,000. As this represented material increases over the 1919 appropriations, friends of the institution claimed the decision in the Big Fight. Several major influences had entered into the short but bitter struggle. In the background was the Hamilton Holt incident. The reaction to war-time enthusiasm and generosity had set in. Regardless of more fundamental issues involved, the 1921 controversy had been chiefly political. The college had inadvertently offered itself as a political football at a time when one was anxiously sought in many quarters. In spite of this fact, the issues raised by the State Board of Finance report were logical and legitimate questions. The college was expanding rapidly and doubling or trebling its appeals for State financing. State revenues were being greatly expanded to meet the increasing demands for good roads, adequate care of charitable and corrective institutions and the generally augmented

costs of government. Where was Storrs headed? Was it actually seeking to "compete" with Yale, Wesleyan and Trinity ? Was a state university finally in prospect ? These were valid questions that had been largely lost sight of in the intensity of the attack and defense.

Editors of State Visit Storrs

Holcomb Hall was ready for occupancy in the fall of 1921 and, with a greatly increased registration of young women, the total number of students enrolled during the year reached 440. Students and faculty took great pride in the new building, by far the most pretentious structure in the college group, and, with the stirring events of the :

CULTURAL OR AGRICULTURAL? 183 previous winter in the background, there was a renewed feeling of confidence in the future.

Friends of the college felt that its cause would be helped if the newspapers of the State had a better opportunity of understanding what was transpiring at Storrs. The Con- necticut Editorial Association had visited the college on two occasions, but neither event had been largely attended and the school had grown tremendously since the last visit. The association was invited to hold its 1922 summer meeting at Storrs and the invitation was accepted. In planning for this visit the college undertook an ambitious scheme. It was a dinner for the editors to be composed exclusively of products grown or manufactured within the State. Such a venture was calculated to meet two criticisms : First, that Connecticut had ceased to be an agricultural state, and, second, that the college had lost touch with what little agriculture the State still possessed. The date was finally set for July 29, 1922, and on that day editors and their guests to the number of one hundred and twenty-three sat down to the Connecticut Dinner. It was a record meeting to that time for the association. The following menu was served at the Dining Hall, girls in the Home Economics classes acting as waitresses MENU Bouillon Oatmeal Wafers Celery Gherkins Turbans of Flounder Sauce Tartare Potato Balls Broiled Chicken Cranberry Sauce Buttered Peas Mashed Potatoes Graham Muffins with Blueberries Stuffed Tomato Salad with Cheese Balls Corn Meal Rolls Ice Cream Honey Sauce Salted Peanuts Maple Pralines Fruit Punch Coffee Connecticut Cigars 184 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

Of the forty- four items entering into the composition of the menu every one was either Connecticut grown or manufactured. Salt came from Long Island Sound, pep- per from a combination of native peppers, the salad dress- ing came from Mystic and the ginger ale from Stafford Springs. Baking powder was manufactured in the laboratories of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Sta- tion in New Haven, coffee was blended in the Storrs laboratories from local grains, sugar was obtained from maple sugar and honey. The cream was from the world champion Jersey cow owned by Col. A. V. Barnes of New Canaan. Oatmeal, graham flour, white flour and corn meal were from State-grown grains. Eggs were from the International Egg Laying Contest, fish from the Sound, broilers from the college poultry plant and beef for soup from a New Haven packing plant. The cigars, of course, were from the famous Connecticut Valley product. A booklet gave the source of all materials and acknowl- edged the enthusiastic cooperation of Connecticut growers and processors.

The dinner proved a great success from the standpoint of publicity. The novelty of the plan attracted wide attention and helped stimulate State pride in its agriculture. The editors, too, had an opportunity of seeing the college at close range and of forming their own conclusions on conflicting claims.

The "Ten-Year Program"

Five hundred students were enrolled during the school year of 1922-23. This constituted the absolute limit of housing capacity at Storrs and involved serious crowding in the men's dormitories. Classroom and laboratory facilities were even more seriously cramped. Following the unpleasantness growing out of the State CULTURAL OR AGRICULTURAL? 185

Board of Finance Report of 1921, the Board had asked President Beach and the college trustees for a statement of aims and purposes and especially for an estimate of future capital investment. Granted that the college needed a new classroom building and an additional dormitory for men, even under present enrollment, what next ? The col-

lege had proved its ability to fill buildings as fast as the

State put them up. The State was trying to budget its expenses. Did the college propose an institution of five hundred, of one thousand, or of 1,500 students, or did it recognize any limits?

In response to this query the Biennial Report of the Board of Trustees for the two years ended June 30, 1922, included a statement of the "Needs of the Connecticut Agricultural College for Buildings and Improvements for a Period of Ten Years." It was explained that the budget was an estimate of the cost of adequately housing an institution of eight hundred students. The proposals involved an outlay of $842,530 for the first two years, $1,243,635 for the next four years, and $1,333,653 for the last four years of the period. The proposals were itemized in detail.

The needs of the institution for maintenance for the next two years were summarized as follows : Storrs Experiment Station, $70,000; Extension Service, $161,148; College Division, $416,953.

The Chamber of Commerce Investigates

On April 6, 1923, the appropriations committee of the General Assembly visited the college. There was none of the tenseness that characterized the brief visit of a similar committee two years before. Luncheon was served at Holcomb Hall by girls of the Home Economics classes. The committee inspected the various buildings and gave :

186 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE especial attention to the livestock herds and the poultry plant. Members of the committee were frank in com- mendation of the agricultural equipment but for the most part non-committal as to plans for expansion.

Almost simultaneously with this visit came published accounts of a Report of the Sub-Committee Appointed by the Committee on State Finance of the State Chamber of Commerce to Study and Report Upon Appropriations for the Connecticut Agricultural College. The committee had been appointed by the Chamber of Commerce some months before to study the major problems that had been discussed but not settled during the 1921 session of the General Assembly.

The report, covering five long pages of solidly typed matter, published in mimeographed form, took up the work of the college under four heads: 1, The Experiment Sta- tion; 2, The Extension Service; 3, Four Years College Course for Students entering from High School Grade; 4, Two Years Short Course for Students entering from Grammar School Grade. The Experiment Station and the Extension Service were dismissed with this brief comment : "The work of the Experiment Station, and more particularly the work of the Extension Service done at the College, has thoroughly proved itself, and has given rise to no serious criticism or ." doubt as to its value . . Some friends of the college saw in this a move to placate the farm groups that had rallied to the defense of the institution two years before and to break the solidarity of the Storrs ranks.

Attacking the third phase of its study, that relating to the four-year courses, the committee pointed out that approximately twenty percent of the registration was of young women. In regard to the women students the report read CULTURAL OR AGRICULTURAL? 187

We would suggest that the true aims of the College would be bene- fitted if opportunities were made for such of these girls as desired them and were unable to meet the cost of tuition, at the Connecticut College for Women or at the State Normal Schools in the case of the classes in Teacher Training in Home Economics. The State could better afford to pay scholarships to cover the cost of tuition in a limited number of cases and make a very material economy over the cost of maintaining these women at the Agricultural College ....

And this for Mechanic Arts :

Mechanical Engineering is an exotic which is imposed upon the Col- lege, we are given to understand, as a condition of some of the Federal Grants. The amount is not large and it might be urged that there is no injury done to farmers in teaching a little of mechanics and mechanical engineering.

As to "The Two-Year Course," the twenty weeks' short course which until recently had been known as the "School of Agriculture," the committee was 'quite positive. It should be thrown out root and branch. The committee characterized it as "an agricultural junior high school" and recommended that "it be discontinued and that the State make a serious study of reaching a much larger number of high school pupils through assisting the country ." high schools . . This could not help but provide a chuckle at Storrs. Some members of the faculty had, indeed, been urging its discontinuance for years as not worthy the dignity of a college, but an intimation to this effect two years before had brought a storm of protest and criticism and the college authorities had been forced to reassure the General Assembly that they had no intention of abandoning the course.

The report concluded with recommendations to delay, at least for two years, consideration of requests for a new dormitory for men and for a classroom building.

Coming as it did, late in the session of the General Assembly, the report caught President Beach off balance, but "prexy" had been through too many legislative fights to be so easily bowled over. 188 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

The Hartford Courant of April 11, 1923, carried bold headlines across two columns of the front page :

CRITICS OF STORRS DID NOT EVEN VISIT COLLEGE DECLARES PRES. BEACH

The lead to the story read as follows :

President Charles L. Beach of the Connecticut Agricultural College, replying yesterday to a report of a sub-committee of the Connecticut Chamber of Commerce which suggested that the College should be closed to women, revealed that the chamber committee never set foot on the college grounds while making its investigation, failed to confer with any of the college officers and did not send to the college for a catalogue.

The president pointed out that the proposed transfer of the co-eds to the Connecticut College for Women at New London would cause the forfeiture of federal aid now received by the institution to help defray expenses.

There followed a point by point reply to the Chamber of Commerce report in which President Beach's genius for marshalling facts and figures was again exemplified.

Newspaper comment on the report and the reply was neither as voluminous nor as pointed as in the preceding struggle. The "Ten Year Plan" had left many citizens aghast. Few were prepared to go the limit with the college, nor were there many persons who were willing to join the Chamber of Commerce committee's eleventh-hour move to dismantle the institution at Storrs. The "Ten Year Plan" represented one viewpoint and the Chamber of Commerce report an opposite viewpoint, but both worked toward the same end—to delay immediate capital improvements, without affecting materially the State's position toward its school.

The General Assembly appropriated $101,570 for new construction and equipment divided among ten items, the :

CULTURAL OR AGRICULTURAL? 189

most sizable of which was $35,000 for a Horticultural Storage Building. Appropriations for maintenance were as follows : College Division, $400,000 ; Experiment Sta- tion, $60,000; Extension Service, $150,000. The maintenance figures represented gains over 1921 appropriations and were but little under the amounts requested.

The Church and Community House

Mention has been made of plans originating soon after the war for increasing the religious and social facilities at Storrs by the construction of a new church plant to replace the ancient Congregational structure that, from its com- manding position on a hillside, had dominated the Storrs scene since long before the Storrs Agricultural School was thought of. Plans had been drawn for a combined church and parish house. By stages and through the perseverance of the Rev. Marshall Dawson this project had been advanced from $60,000 to $100,000 to $150,000. The Connecticut Federation of Churches had become interested and agreed to sponsor a campaign for the buildings. The Biennial Report of the Board of Trustees published in 1924 summed up the progress of the movement

Community Church.—Storrs Agricultural School, now the Connecti- cut Agricultural College, was built on the campus of the Storrs Con- gregational Church. For a period of 25 years, church attendance on Sunday was required of all students. It is recognized that college students should have the opportunity not alone for religious worship but also for religious instruction. With the growth of the institution, the present church is inadequate for the accommodation of a student body of 400 and a college community consisting of possibly 300 additional persons. Under public statutes, however, existing since 1818, the State can do nothing financially toward meeting the religious and spiritual needs of the College and its community. After careful consideration on the part of the Trustees of the Storrs Church, the Executive Board of the Connecticut Conference of Churches and a Special Committee of the Congregational Conference of Connecticut, it has been decided that the

time is ripe for launching a movement for providing fuller religious and social opportunity for the young people who attend the Connecticut 190 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

Agricultural College at Storrs. It is proposed to raise the sum of $150,000 for a Church Building; $75,000 for a Community House and $75,000 for an endowment. A campaign is now under way with excellent prospects of the fund being raised for this most worthy undertaking.

Success of the church and community house campaign must be considered among the intangible but important contributions of the period to the development and growth of the Connecticut Agricultural College. The Connecticut Federation of Churches lent its secretary, the Rev. Morris E. Ailing, for the project, and, in fact, threw all of the weight it could muster behind the movement. The campaign enlisted the interest of hundreds of persons who had previously given little thought to the college. In giving to the fund they created an investment in the college community at Storrs and established a relation much deeper than could be accomplished by their acquiescence as taxpayers to the State's appropriations to its secular activities.

Honorary Recognition

At Farmers' Week, 1924, the college established a custom, borrowed from the University of Wisconsin, of giving Honorary Recognition to leaders in agriculture and country life. The plan amounts, practically, to a State agricultural hall of fame and has since grown into one of the most eagerly-anticipated events of the year at Storrs. Under the plan, selections are made by a committee of the Faculty and are approved by the Board of Trustees. The plan as worked out in Connecticut is different from that in many states in that the "best farmer" idea receives minor attention. Leadership in agricultural progress and rural welfare is the primary consideration.

The initial selections for Honorary Recognition Certi- ficates were: C. J. Abell, Lebanon; Dr. E. H. Jenkins,

New Haven ; and Elijah Rogers, Southington. cultural or agricultural? 191

The Second Chamber of Commerce Investigation

Having arrived nowhere in particular in its first attempt to solve the riddle of Storrs and realizing that the public attitude toward its committee's report was influenced largely by the counter claim that no opportunity had been offered the administration of the college to be heard during the investigation, the State Chamber of Commerce returned in 1924 to the task it had set itself. This time it appointed a committee of prominent citizens, well known in educational and business circles, to undertake a thorough investigation into the major problems.

On December 30, 1924, a conference was held at Storrs between college officials and as many members of the committee as could spare the time for a hearing. It was soon evident that the brunt of the investigation would be carried by one or two members of the committee. The very fact that the members were busy men, holding responsible positions, was an indication that they could hardly be expected to go deeply into the questions involved, especially as the committee had not begun to function until almost time for the General Assembly to meet. There was indication in some of the preliminary questionnaires that followed the conference that much of the actual work was done by assistants.

Armed with the replies to their questions and masses of printed and typewritten matter prepared for their study by the college administration, the committee left the conference. A few weeks later the college received an imposing document of forty pages entitled: Questions Raised by the Special Committee Appointed by the Connecticut State Chamber of Commerce "To Study and Report Upon the Proper Purposes, Functions, Activities, Expendi- tures, Curriculum and Future Plans of the Connecticut Agricultural College." 192 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

The committee asked for a full and complete reply to its questions within a week. The college reply, exceeding in volume even the committee's questionnaire, was forwarded within the specified time.

On February- 7, 1925, the committee held a conference with the Board of Trustees, meeting in New Haven. The questionnaire and reply were discussed at that time. On February 12, the committee transmitted a second questionnaire intended to clarify remaining points of uncertainty-. Again a prompt reply was forthcoming.

By this time it was apparent to everyone concerned that not enough time had been allotted to the study, in view of the comprehensive scope which had been undertaken. Some minor unpleasantness had been incurred. The college administration and its Board of Trustees thought some of the questions in the committee's first document indicated pre-conceived conclusions and that some of the language fell little short of impertinence. The committee, on the other hand, felt that the board and the administration were a little sensitive. To get the full import of the communications passing between the committee and the college one would have to read the documents themselves and these alone would fill a book.

The final report of the committee recommended a ten percent increase in maintenance appropriations, another delay of building appropriations, and a new study to be made by the State itself and which was proposed to cover the entire State educational system. So far as the attitude of the General Assembly was concerned, the report was practically nullified by the fact that the appropriation bills were well along the road to passage before the report was ready. Thus ended the second attempt of the Chamber of Com- merce to answer the questions raised by the State Board of Finance in 1921. :

CULTURAL OR AGRICULTURAL? 193

The General Assembly of 1925 and the College

The second Chamber of Commerce investigation had hardly started when the 1925 General Assembly convened

and with it came, on January 7. the message of Governor Hiram Bingham. A generous portion of this message was devoted to the Connecticut Agricultural College. The following is taken from the message

With regard to the Connecticut Agricultural College the time has come for the General Assembly to define clearly the ultimate purpose

of the State. The question is this : Does Connecticut desire to establish a first-class state university like that of the State of Wisconsin, where the annual appropriation is about five million dollars, or does Connecticut wish to follow the Massachusetts plan of leaving the universities in private hands and maintaining for state purposes a first-class, well-equipped agricultural college with the object of preparing young men and women for successful fanning? While it is not to be doubted that a farmer who has a broad general education, the result of university training, is better equipped to enjoy rural life than one who has been denied these advantages, the question is. do the taxpayers of this State, whose representatives are now in the General Assembly, wish to assume the burden of building up at Storrs a great state university? There are now in this State three well-equipped colleges or universities for men and one for women. In our bordering states there are a large number of privately endowed colleges and universities. In no region of America are there better opportunities than at present exist in New England for any earnest, intelligent student to pursue to the utmost whatever courses of study and research he desires. The objection is made that the expense of attendance at these privately endowed institutions is very much greater than at a state institution where the taxpayers furnish the money. It is claimed that none but the well-to-do can enjoy the advantages of the existing colleges. As a matter of fact there are hundreds of students in the existing institutions who are working their way either in whole or in part. At our largest university there are nearly a thousand students receiving scholarship aid. and about 1.500 who earn part, and many who are earning all of their own expenses. Any young man with good mental equipment and earnest purpose can secure a college education in Connecticut no matter how limited his financial resources. In view of these facts, and of the enormous cost of creating a state university, it would seem the part of wisdom definitely to adopt a plan designed to make Storrs an exceptionally effective agricultural college rather than an institution for general education. It is worthy of remark that the appropriations made by the General Assembly during the past ten years to the Agricultural 194 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

College for "general uses" have increased four hundred per cent. Dur- ing the same period the increase for the extension service has been from $15,000 to $150,000. There is no question but that the taxpayers have been liberal in their support of the college and its work.

While the college administration could not rightfully resent the interest of the Governor in both the present and future of the institution there was a feeling among the faculty and students that the reference to Massachusetts was rubbing it in just a bit. This was a comparison that had frequently been made in the press and before Assembly committees. A study of the current catalogs of the Massa- chusetts Agricultural College and of the Connecticut Agri- cultural College indicated that the Massachusetts school was offering upward of one hundred more "cultural" or "non-agricultural" courses than its neighbor. No student or alumnus of Storrs would admit that Massachusetts had a better agricultural college than had Connecticut.

Between supplying information to legislative committees on points raised in the Governor's message and answering the Chamber of Commerce questionnaires, President Beach and his associates put in a busy winter.

The appropriations bill, which passed the General Assem- bly in May, provided the following funds for buildings and equipment: Dormitory for Men, $168,400; two double cottages for faculty use, $31,000; extension of steam mains, $5,000; extension of fire protection system, $6,500; coal trestle at railroad siding, $15,000. The maintenance appropriations for the two years were: College Division, $450,000; Experiment Station, $60,000; Extension Service, $150,000.

In addition to these appropriations, the General Assembly created a fund of $200,000 for additional water supply for the Connecticut Agricultural College and the Mansfield State Training School and Hospital and provided for a commission to be appointed by the Governor to take such CULTURAL OR AGRICULTURAL? 195

steps as would be found necessary to solve the water problem. Governor Trumbull, who had taken office after Governor Bingham's appointment to the United States Senate, named Joseph W. Alsop, Nathan D. Prince and Caleb M. Saville as commissioners. As a result of the study of the commission the water problem at Storrs was finally settled by providing a system of wells in the Fenton River valley, which gives the college an abundant supply of pure water. The General Assembly also accepted the Federal Purnell Act providing for the more complete endowment of experiment stations and divided the benefits between the Storrs Agricultural Experiment Station and the Connecticut Agri- cultural Experiment Station in New Haven. This measure greatly increased the income of the Storrs Agricultural Experiment Station.

Limitation of Enrollment

Perhaps the most important single measure affecting the college which came before the 1925 General Assembly was a bill limiting enrollment to five hundred students at any one time during any one year, preference to be given to students desiring to take the four-year agricultural course. This act, in effect, was the result of a "gentlemen's agreement" between the Board of Trustees and certain leaders in the State administration. Through this agreement the appropriation for the men's dormitory was assured, with a tacit understanding that at the next session, if possible, a classroom building would be provided.

The act settled, for the time being at least, the question of the future at Storrs. The college was to remain small in numbers but the State was to provide long-needed facilities. The legal limitation fixed enrollment at the same point that physical limitations had succeeded in stopping growth in 1922. 196 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

i Taking advantage of the legal bar to further enrollment, the faculty at the college took steps to raise the entrance requirements and to improve standards of scholarship. That the improved standards made admission to the college more desirable was shown by the fact that from the time these changes were made the college has received each fall from two hundred to three hundred more applications than could be accepted. Limitation of enrollment satisfied two groups within

the State : First, those who feared a "state university" in competition with Yale, Wesleyan and Trinity, or who were opposed to further taxation; and, second, friends of the college who deplored the crowded conditions at Storrs but felt the State was not justified in attempting to educate

more students until it had adequately provided for those already in attendance.

The Charles Lewis Beach Building

In 1927 the General Assembly appropriated $420,000 for a classroom and laboratory building at the college. This building was intended to supplant the old frame Main Building, constructed in 1890. President Beach had gone before successive sessions of the General Assembly to urge the necessity of such a structure. The building represented the culmination of years of effort, with alternate hope and disappointment. The building was ready for occupancy in February, 1929. By this time President Beach had retired and the Board of Trustees voted to name the new structure The Charles Lewis Beach Building. Within a year the old Main Building had been torn down, and thus was removed, except for a small frame structure housing the offices of the Experiment Station, the last of the row of frame

structures crowning the hill. Built by Public Subscription Upper—Storrs Church. Loivcr—Community House. Upper—First Football Squad—1894. Lower—Football Squad—1924. cultural or agricultural? 197

Student Activities and Interests

Student self-government made marked strides during the period. The Women's Student Government Associa- tion, organized soon after the war, continued to function successfully. In 1922, the Student Senate, an outgrowth of the Student Organization, undertook the relief of the old faculty Discipline Committee of minor cases of discipline but its principal function became the coordination and supervision of student affairs and activities. The

Student Senate is composed of seven seniors, five juniors, two sophomores and the president of the Student Organ- ization. One senior and one junior member are elected from among the women students.

Dramatics continued to thrive, the old College Dramatic Club giving way to the State College Players, later the Connecticut Players. Courses in dramatics were added to the English curriculum. Under the tutelage of Prof. H. A. Seckerson of the English Department the students made marked improvement in the selection and presentation of their plays.

Athletics moved forward. On November 15, 1924, Connecticut won from Rhode Island before the largest football crowd in the history of Storrs, by a score of 22 to 0, ending an undefeated season. During most of the period Connecticut held its own against Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, Wesleyan and other strong teams. Basketball teams registered victories over West Point, Harvard, Holy Cross and others. Track athletics also made progress.

Connecticut Day became for a time one of the features of the year's calendar. One day each spring was set aside for volunteer work on the athletic fields and the campus grounds. Gardner Dow field was rebuilt, a new football gridiron being laid out and new tennis courts added. 198 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

The issue of the Campus of Thursday, October 22, 1925, carried an ultimatum from President Beach abolishing all

- forms of hazing . "Paddling," ducking and similar forms of initiation or punishment went into the discard, but the rope rush, pig roast and other inter-class contests under formal rules were permitted.

Resignation of President Beach

After twenty years of service as president and thirty years with the institution, President Charles L. Beach retired on July 31, 1928, and was made president-emeritus by action of the Board of Trustees. Mr. Beach's resignation followed a long illness and repeated admonitions from his physicians that he must take a rest.

The Connecticut Agricultural College was a small, poorly- equipped institution, in some respects not far above secondary school grade, when he took over its management in

1908. He left it a well-equipped institution of true college grade. With unfaltering courage he had carried the institution through trying experiences and had met efforts to curtail its growth with pleas for expansion. His tact and forbearance under fire had won the admiration of citizens throughout the State and there is little doubt that some of the later developments represented a personal more than an institutional triumph. Wesleyan University conferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Science in 1927.

Three men stand out in the fifty years of history of the State's institution at Storrs. T. S. Gold shaped the early destinies of the Storrs Agricultural School. William

Edgar Simonds made it a land grant college. President Beach replaced frame buildings with brick and mortar, raised the level of instruction, and compelled a reluctant State to take pride in its college. CHAPTER X

SWAPPING HORSES IN MIDSTREAM

P>ROF. CHARLES BURT GENTRY was called back -*- from Cornell, where he was engaged in teaching in the summer school, to take charge of affairs at Storrs following the resignation of President Beach. Professor Gentry came to Storrs soon after the war to supervise the Smith-Hughes vocational work in agriculture throughout the State and to extend the organization of a division of teacher training at the college. In accepting the acting presidency of the college in August, 1928, he imposed two conditions : First, that the Board of Trustees would proceed without delay in a search for a successor to Mr. Beach; and, second, that his own professional responsibilities might not be interrupted. The Connecticut Agricultural College had revolved so long around the personality of President Beach that a change necessarily entailed a certain feeling of abruptness. Budgets must be prepared for the coming biennium, and for the first time in a score of years the institution would face the General Assembly under new leadership. Prof. Gentry announced his intention of carrying out so far as possible the policies of the preceding administration, of instituting no radical changes, and of turning the institution over to his successor with as little friction and disturbance as possible.

For a time during the late fall of 1928 events gave promise of a tempest in a teapot through the divergent viewpoints of members of the Board of Trustees and certain elements in the student body. The old agitation for changing the name to "State College" had never completely died and the difficulties of employing the more 200 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE cumbersome "Connecticut Agricultural College" in Campus headlines and in various organization names had resulted in looseness in the use of these terms. This, and a pointed editorial or two, brought a demand for censorship of student publications. It was pointed out by the Board of Trustees that only the General Assembly had the right to change the name of the institution. The dramatic organization solved its problem of preserving the verities, and at the same time avoiding a name so long as to be the despair of sign painters, by changing the title from "State College Players" to "Connecticut Players." The Campus made the proper change on the masthead and its editors devised new methods of meeting the problem in headlines. In smoothing over this situation with a minimum of misunderstanding, the acting president met the acid test of diplomacy. This was but one of a number of trying problems that faced the acting president.

A spirit of cooperation was manifest at every point. Trustees, faculty, students and alumni were all anxious to help promote the interests of the institution. This spirit of good-will and cooperation helped the acting president surmount the difficulties of a transition period and the year of Prof. Gentry's administration was one of progress and achievement. The 1925 General Assembly had provided a men's dormitory and the 1927 session the classroom and laboratory building, major objectives of the college over a period of years. Good taste forbade an ambitious program of capital outlay before the 1929 General Assembly. At least that was a prevalent sentiment in Hartford and it was accepted at Storrs. No major improvements were asked for but the Assembly did provide for a hard-surfaced road through the campus, a concrete walk from Holcomb Hall to the Dining Hall, additional funds for construction of the animal diseases laboratory and various improvements, SWAPPING HORSES IN MIDSTREAM 201

totalling $137,970. In addition, substantial increases were allowed for maintenance. No one can deny that the 1929 session of the General Assembly was unusually friendly toward the college. Two other measures before this session are of note. The first had to do with limitation of enrollment. The law of 1925 was repealed and in its place was passed a new act

concerning enrollment. This act reads : "The enrollment of students who are to reside in the college dormitories shall not exceed 500 at any one time during any one year, preference in enrollment in each year being given to students desiring to take the full agricultural course." The

significance of this act is apparent. It virtually removes restrictions on enrollment but retains a definite limit as to the number of students the State proposes to provide with dormitory facilities. Five hundred and seventy students were enrolled in 1929-30. The other measure changed the status of the college staff in regard to the State's pension system. The old requirement of the teachers' retirement fund was removed and members of the staff are now classified as "State employees" under the law that permits retirement on part salary after thirty years' service.

Dr. Works Here for Year

On April 15, 1929, the Board of Trustees elected George Alan Works, dean of the Graduate Library School at the University of Chicago, as president of the college. Dr. Works assumed his duties July 1. With characteristic energy, Dr. Works took up the reins of administration and undertook an intensive study of the college organization. Committees were appointed to study various phases of the institution and to make recommendations. Notable among these studies was that of the committee on "Titles and Tenures" which sought to establish 202 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

standards of scholarship for appointments to the staff, to provide a uniform system of ranking- among the three principal divisions of the institution, and to initiate a definite method of procedure in such matters as tenures, retirement, etc. The committee reports were expected to provide the basic information on which subsequent reorganization or changes of policy might be formulated.

Official inauguration of Dr. Works was set for Novem- ber 7 and 8, 1929. The event opened with a reception by the Board of Trustees on the evening of November 7. Inauguration exercises on the afternoon of November 8 were impressive. Thirty institutions were represented in the academic procession and twenty others sent letters or telegrams of felicitation. Exercises in the Armory were presided over by Harry G. Manchester, vice-president of the Board of Trustees. Addresses were presented by Gov- ernor John H. Trumbull, President James Lukens McCon- aughy of Wesleyan University, Chancellor Samuel Paul Capen of the University of Buffalo, and Dr. Works.* While the events are too recent and Dr. Works' own connection with the college was too brief to permit a valuation of his achievements, it is probable that his major contribution will be found in the movement to "unify" the work of the institution. The Experiment Station and the Extension Service had grown up as fairly separate entities and were rather generally considered as such by interested groups throughout the State. Dr. Works felt strongly that the natural division of the institution's work was by subject matter. The permanence and effectiveness of this plan, together with other changes made or proposed, is, quite naturally, a matter for later histories. He was con- centrating- on this task when, in the spring of 1930, he received an invitation from the University of Chicago to accept a position which both in opportunities for service

* The gist of the proceedings, including excerpts from addresses, may be found in Volume 25, No. 3, of The Connecticut Agricultural College Bulletin. :

SWAPPING HORSES IN MIDSTREAM 203 and in material remuneration offered inducements that could not be ignored.

In tendering his resignation as president of the Con- necticut Agricultural College, Dr. Works took occasion to issue a public statement in which he discussed frankly some of the conclusions to which his year at Storrs had brought him in reference to the logical position of the college in the State's educational program. This statement, as printed in the Hartford Times of June 12, 1930, was as follows

With deep regret and only after careful consideration have I decided to resign the presidency of the Connecticut Agricultural College. The primary considerations that have led me to make this decision are the possibilities I see in the position that I have been offered at the Univer- sity of Chicago. There are, however, other elements in the situation that have contributed to the decision.

The support given me by the trustees of the college has been all that could be desired. They are men and women devoted to the welfare of the institution, but during the past year I have learned that they do not have the degree of freedom in determining the policies of the college that I believe to be essential for a governing board to possess. The trustees should have a larger measure of autonomy in determining fiscal policies, which in turn influence educational policies, than the present financial organization of the state's government gives them.

Further, the year spent in the study of educational conditions has convinced me that so far as higher education is concerned the greatest need, of the state is a larger opportunity for the young men and women to obtain general education. The college should in accordance with the legislation providing for its establishment carry forward its work in agriculture and engineering with vigor. However, this is not sufficient. Its offerings in the field of humanities and the social sciences should be materially strengthened to the end that a larger proportion of the young people of the state may be able to obtain a good general education at the college. Believing this as completely as I do I would not be honest to my convictions if I did not consistently work to bring the condition to pass by which the scope of the college would be materially increased. I believe the people of the state would accept this view when the facts were before them but in my opinion the political organization of the state is not such that this end can be realized in the immediate future.

The college has been built on a fundamentally sound basis and there is no doubt but what ultimately the trustees will be given the freedom 204 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE and the funds necessary for an institution that shall more completely meet the needs of the state than is possible at present, but this possibility does not appear likely of realization in the near future.

George Alan Works.

Following this statement came other interviews purport- ing to give Dr. Works' views of the institution and its problems, and in the Sunday issue of the Hartford Courant of August 9 appeared a long article under his signature. Editorial comment on the issues involved indicated for the most part a willingness to consider the question of the future of Storrs on an academic rather than a political plane. CHAPTER XI

THE FIFTIETH YEAR

RESIGNATION of Dr. Works left the college again

' without a leader. Budgets were being prepared for the coming session of the General Assembly and a new school year was just ahead. Fortunately, however, the Board of Trustees had made a thorough canvass of the educational field little more than a year before and the members were in general agreement as to the qualifications they expected of a college president. Within a short time an invitation had been extended to Dr. Charles Chester McCracken, professor of school administration in the Ohio State University, and Dr. McCracken accepted. The appointment became operative on September 1. Dr. McCracken was born at Belle fontaine, Ohio, June 27, 1882. He was graduated from Belle fontaine High School in 1899 and from there entered Monmouth College at Monmouth, 111. After receiving the A.B. degree from that institution he engaged in teaching in Illinois and Ohio schools. Entering Harvard as a University scholar he received the A.M. degree in 1911. In 1914-15 he was Austin fellow at Harvard and was granted the Ph.D. degree in 1916. In 1917 he became professor of school administration in the Ohio State University and remained in that capacity until coming to Storrs. In 1927 and 1928 he served as a member of a commission of the United States Bureau of Education to survey negro colleges and universities. In 1928 he was granted leave to act as research counselor for the Department of Colleges and Training Schools of the Board of Christian Education of the Presbyterian Church, U. S. A. He also served as a ;

: : 7hz : : : : z incur ageicultusal college specialist in the Land Grant College Survey. Through- out, his training and experience have been of a nature to fit one admirably for the role of college president.

With a school year getting under way and final preparations of budgets to go before the General Assembly. Dr. McCracken received a strenuous introduction to the Con- necticut Agricultural College. Fortunately his connection with the Land Grant College Survey had familiarized him with much of the detail of the institution. The school year was but well started when an outbreak of infantile paralysis throughout the State brought to the front the long-realized importance of increased medical and hospital facilities at Storrs. W. Howard Forsyth, Assis- tant Professor in Animal Husbandry, died of the disease. His death gave special emphasis to the need for competent medical service at the college. On October 23, 1930, the Board of Finance and Control granted an emergency appropriation for the appointment of a resident physician. The

college physician began his duties on January 1, and for the first time the college was provided with the advantages of medical care without recourse to Willimantic, eight miles With the resident nurse previously established, the action of the Board of Finance and Control paved the way for a health service a: Storrs .vhich promises to be of great value.

Prevalence of colds and light cases of "influenza" in the

fall and early winter sc o trtaxed the small infirmary that temporary isolation quarters were established. Since then one addition to the infirmary has been completed and another seems assured. These additions will equip the infirmary better to serve the health needs of the student body. During the fall of 1930 Willimantic citizens conducted a successful drive for funds to construct a Wind- ham County Memorial Hospital. Storrs. as a community, made an excellent showing in the campaign and the com- ; * "

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recognition has, in the past, been a source of great embar- rassment and dissatisfaction to both students and faculty. In December, 1930, the faculty adopted a system of general and honors examinations. Under this plan all candidates for the bachelor's degree, beginning with students who entered in 1930, must pass a general examination in their major fields before graduation. Candidates for degrees with distinction must hereafter pass satisfactory examinations. Assistance to student musical organizations, particularly the orchestra and the glee clubs, has been provided by the appointment in January, 1931, of a part-time instructor in music. At present the student musical organizations are acquiring prestige comparable to those of other supervised activities.

In its issue of Friday, February 20, 1931, the Campus commented on an article appearing in the Hartford Courant relative to a proposed change in name from Connecticut Agricultural College to "State College." A similar drive was under way in Massachusetts. It was pointed out that the name of the institution is too cumbersome for general use and that citizens of the State are prone to refer to the institution as "Storrs College." In the discussion which followed, two leading newspapers of the State editorially championed the designation "Storrs College." Of the perennial subjects for argumentation this matter of name has recurred prominently and often during the past forty years. Perhaps because of its brevity, the name "Storrs College" has become fixed in the public mind, but to many students and alumni it does not meet the requirement of showing affiliation with the State in addition to its admitted qualifications of brevity and easy pronunciation.

As the first fifty years of the institution's history draw to a close, the two outstanding points of interest to the friends of the college have to do with the fate of the appro- THE FIFTIETH YEAR 209 priation bills pending before the General Assembly and the plans for celebration of the fiftieth anniversary in June. Recommendations of the Board of Finance and Control before the 1931 session of the General Assembly represented the most generous attitude toward the college which the State has ever assumed. Increased maintenance appropriations were recommended. Capital investment recommendations included the construction of a Home Economics Building to cost $250,000 and an Apartment House for faculty families to cost $75,000. Hearings on the college bills before legislative committees were satisfactory and the outlook was quite favorable until a late survey of probable State income indicated a revenue greatly reduced from original estimates. This situation, in line with the experience of the Federal government and of- other states, created a less cheerful outlook for State expenditures. This was the situation in mid-April, 1931.

Celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the college, originally scheduled for April, was postponed until June to coincide with the annual commencement. Inauguration of President McCracken was also deferred to permit these three events to occur in conjunction. June 5, 6, 7 and 8, 1931, promise to establish an important period in the future history of the college. The program as scheduled calls for Class Day, June 5, the fiftieth anniversary celebration and inaugural exercises, June 6, Baccalaureate Sunday, June 7, and Commencement, June 8. About one hundred degrees will probably be granted, the graduates including approximately seventy men and thirty women. As a part of the Baccalaureate day exercises will occur the dedication and initial use of the Austin Cornelius Dunham Carillon in the Storrs Church.

Considering its humble beginnings, the Connecticut Agri- cultural College of to-day represents a large measure of achievement in the past fifty years. Its steady growth and 210 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE present standing in the educational world are due to unfaltering- fidelity to the ideal of higher education. If the college has faced at times a large measure of adversity it has been fortunate in the support of staunch leaders and courageous friends. Representing as it does the principle of education for democracy, the college is builded upon a solid foundation that presages a happy and useful future.

The modern land grant college, and Connecticut is no exception, represents a three- fold purpose : Resident instruction, Research, and Extension teaching. The foregoing chapters have dealt principally with the college as an institution for the education of youth. There remains the task of chronicling briefly the development of those other important functions as represented by the Storrs Experiment Station and the Extension Service. CHAPTER XII

RESEARCH, THE CORNERSTONE OF PROGRESS

WHILE the Connecticut Agricultural College was still an obscure institution of small enrollment and meagre appropriations, and long before its Extension Service came into existence as an efficient, vigorous organization for carrying the college to the people of the State, the name of Storrs had acquired national and even international fame for its brilliant leadership in the field of agricultural science. There is little in research to catch the eye and fire the imagination of the public, but among workers in the field of science the Storrs Agricultural Experiment Station has commanded respect from its beginning.

Founded six years after the Storrs Agricultural School, the Experiment Station provided the first link in the chain of events that was to transform the institution at Storrs into a modern land grant college. The circumstances of its early development emphasize the extent to which the present Connecticut Agricultural College borrowed its original sustenance from older institutions within Con- necticut. The debt that Storrs owes to Yale has been treated at some length in earlier chapters. The introduction into the scene by resolution of the General Assembly approved May 18, 1887, of the Storrs Agricultural School Experiment Station, brought an intimate relationship with another long established Connecticut institution, Wesleyan University. No history of the Connecticut Agricultural College could lay any claim to completeness without acknowledging in some degree the very great debt that Storrs owes to Wesleyan. From 1887 to 1902 the history of the Storrs Agricultural Experiment Station is one of close association between these two institutions. 212 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

Connecticut is now one of the few states having an independent experiment station. Such a situation could hardly have existed in a small state except for the fact that the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station at New Haven antedated even the origin of the Connecticut Agri- cultural College. There have been various movements in later years looking toward the consolidation of the two stations, but the New Haven station has been too long and too brilliantly operated as a Connecticut institution to make such a move universally popular. From the beginning of the Storrs station, however, an effort has been made to adjust amicably the spheres of activity of the two stations so that their work would not overlap. It can truthfully be said that while each has achieved merited recognition for its scientific work there has never been any real conflict of prerogatives.

Origin of American Experiment Stations

In an earlier chapter, attention was called briefly to the efforts in Europe during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to apply a slowly developing knowledge of chemical science to the solution of problems of soil fertility. Lavoisier, the famous French scientist, devoted much attention to the investigation of agricultural problems in both field and laboratory. Investigation of the "principle of vegetation" had, in fact, been going on in several countries for nearly two hundred years previous. One of the early attempts in America at conducting an experimental farm was that of John Bartram at West Philadelphia in the first half of the eighteenth century, which inspired St. John de Crevecouer to interest France in an exchange of plants with America. Probably the most famous venture was that of Andre Michaux, a French botanist, who, operating under a commission from RESEARCH, THE CORNERSTONE OF PROGRESS 213 the French government, maintained experimental nurseries in Bergen County, N. J., and at Charleston, S. C, beginning about 1786. Cooperation of the state legislature of New Jersey was seriously proposed and the "Frenchman's gardens" narrowly missed the distinction of becoming the first public experiment station in America.

There is not space here to recount the long agitation of the agricultural societies on behalf of experimentation, of numerous plans for national or state experimental farms, and of many private ventures by wealthy farmers or public- spirited citizens. New York and Maryland barely failed to establish public experiment stations in the first half of the nineteenth century.

While the cause of agricultural experimentation obtained much inspiration from the earlier European investigations in field and laboratory, it was the work of Boussingault in France, Lawes and Gilbert in England and Liebig in Ger- many, in the second quarter of the nineteenth century, that provided the final impetus to the American movement. Liebig, more than any other, inspired American efforts. With each of these men attempts at agricultural improvement were centered largely in the application of chemistry to problems of soil fertility. While any comprehensive study of the rise of agricultural science would have to acknowledge the very great debt to investigators of many lands in the problems of plant and animal breeding, the fact remains that the present American system of agricultural experiment stations grew very largely out of the European search for artificial manures to bolster up a waning soil fertility brought about by bad farming.

Inception of the modern experiment station idea in

America is usually attributed to Samuel W. Johnson of the Yale Scientific School. Johnson had established a brilliant record as a student in the Yale laboratories and had followed this with extended study in Europe in which he 214 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE visited the leading laboratories but especially those of Lie- big in Germany and Lawes in England. Rothamsted was well under way and had already formulated many of the investigations that were to establish it as the premier experiment station of the world. Groups of German farmers, particularly in Saxony, were establishing experiment stations of their own and these ventures were to attract much interest in America because the plan of farmer-owned experimental farms had long been advocated in this country.

Professor Johnson returned, about 1855, to join the staff of the Yale Scientific School and to carry on the traditions of the Sillimans, Norton and Porter. In his student days at Yale and while in Europe, Johnson had written much for farm papers and newspapers, particularly the Country Gentleman, and on his return from Europe he became an active propagandist for the experiment station idea. The Connecticut State Agricultural Society and later the State Board of Agriculture provided a convenient forum for the discussion of the ideas which Professor Johnson was promulgating.

It remained, however, for a more aggressive personality to strike the spark that was to transform the propaganda of Professor Johnson into action. Wilbur Olin Atwater was graduated from Wesleyan in 1865 and later became a graduate student under Professor Johnson at Yale. He spent two years in Europe, studying physiological chemistry and visiting experiment stations. He joined the staff of Wesleyan University in 1873 as professor of chemistry. In an address before the State Board of Agriculture at Meriden, in its session of December 17 to 19, 1873, he presented an energetic argument for the establishment of an experiment station. Following his address a motion was passed calling for the appointment of a committee to report on the desirability of an experiment station. Pro- RESEARCH, THE CORNERSTONE OF PROGRESS 213 fessor Johnson and Messrs. Hart, Clift, Day and Linsley were appointed a committee with instructions to report before adjournment of the meeting. Professor Johnson reported his committee in favor of an immediate campaign and recommended the appointment of a permanent committee to call the matter to the attention of the people of the State and the General Assembly. Such a committee was appointed, with a representative from each county, and during the winter and spring held seventeen public meetings throughout the State to arouse interest in the project. Fifteen or twenty petitions were circulated and presented to the General Assembly of 1874. A bill to establish an experiment station with an appropriation of $8,000 was drawn up but was delayed in the Committee on Agriculture so that the matter had to be put over to the next session of the General Assembly. The General Assembly of 1875 was besieged on behalf of the experiment station bill but on account of the new- ness of the idea and the "largeness of the appropriation," the measure seemed to be lost when Orange Judd of Mid- dletown stepped into the breach. This famous publisher of farm papers had made a gift to Wesleyan of a Hall of Natural Sciences, and at his request the trustees of

Wesleyan University offered the free use of its laboratories to the State. Orange Judd offered $1,000 toward meeting the expenses of operation if the General Assembly would establish the experiment station and appropriate $2,800 a year toward its support. The General Assembly accordingly accepted the offer of Wesleyan and appropriated $700 a quarter for a period of two years for the support of the work, and the first state experiment station in America was established. The work was begun Octo- ber 1, 1875, with Atwater as director. The appropriation had been for a period of but two years and state support automatically ceased at the end of the period. 216 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

Meanwhile, the friends of Professor Johnson felt that he had been unjustly deprived of the fruits of his labors. A new movement was undertaken before the General Assembly and "An act establishing the Connecticut Agri- cultural Experiment Station" was approved March 21, 1877. This act appropriated $5,000 annually to the support of the station and empowered Professor Johnson to call the first meeting of the Board of Control. According to the act this body was to consist of eight members, one to be selected by the State Board of Agriculture, one by the State Agricultural Society, one by the Governing Board of the Sheffield Scientific School, one by the Board of Trustees of Wesleyan University, and two to be appointed by the Governor with the consent of the Senate. The Governor and the director are ex-officio members of the Board.

Thus was established the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, on a permanent basis, the oldest existing station in the country. Professor Johnson was made director, while Edward H. Jenkins and Henry P. Armsby were appointed chemists. The Sheffield Scientific School fitted up at its own expense and tendered to the use of the station the main floor of the east wing of Sheffield Hall. The Annual Report of the Connecticut Agricul- tural Experiment Station for 1877 announced the follow-

ing plan of work : "The Station is prepared to analyze and test fertilizers, cattle feed, seeds, soils, waters, and other agricultural materials and products, to identify grasses, weeds, and useful or injurious insects, and to give information on the various subjects of agricultural science, for the use and advantage of the citizens of Connecticut."

On April 26, 1882, the General Assembly appropriated $25,000 to the station for the purpose of buying land and erecting buildings. The present site of the station was purchased soon after. A brick building was erected for :

RESEARCH, THE CORNERSTONE OF PROGRESS 217 laboratories and the following winter the station moved into its new quarters.

This was the situation as it existed when the passage of the Hatch Act by Congress precipitated the first stages of the Yale-Storrs Controversy.

The Storrs Experiment Station is Founded

On March 2, 1887, the Hatch Act, appropriating $15,000 to each of the states for the establishment of an agricultural experiment station in connection with the land grant college, received presidential approval and became a law. Application was made for the whole of this fund in Con- necticut on behalf of the Connecticut Agricultural Experi- ment Station and this application was endorsed by Yale, then the land grant college of Connecticut. On the other hand the Grange was making a valiant effort to obtain part or all of this fund for the Storrs Agricultural School. The principal facts of this controversy have been presented in earlier chapters.

The General Assembly sought a compromise, as indicated by the following resolution "Concerning Appropri- ations to Agricultural Experiment Stations," approved May 18, 1887:

Resolved by this Assembly

Section 1. That this State accepts and assents to the provisions of the Act of Congress, approved March second, 1887, entitled "An Act to establish Agricultural Experiment Stations in connection with the colleges established in the several States, under the provisions of an act approved July second, 1862, and of the acts supplementary thereto."

Sec. 2. The farm attached to the Storrs Agricultural School may be used as an experimental farm for the purposes specified in the act first mentioned; and the trustees of that school and their successors in office are hereby appointed to receive and expend one-half of such moneys as may come to this State, under the provisions of said act first mentioned. :

218 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

Sec. 3. The board of control of the Connecticut Agricultural Experi- ment Station, and its successors in office, is hereby appointed to receive and expend one-half of such moneys as may come to this State, under the provisions of said act first mentioned.

At the annual meeting of the trustees of the Storrs

Agricultural School held in Hartford on February 1, 1888, a committee of T. S. Gold, J. M. Hubbard, and H. C. Miles was appointed to prepare plans for experimental work and to confer with the Board of Control of the Con- necticut Agricultural Experiment Station to obtain harmony of work. Upon recommendation of this committee, the Board of Trustees, meeting at Hartford on March 27, appointed Professor W. O. Atwater of Wesleyan Univer- sity as director and Professor C. S. Phelps of West Hart- ford, vice-director. Professor Phelps later served as professor of agriculture in the Storrs Agricultural School.

The new officers entered upon their duties on April 1, 1888.

Out of the first year's appropriation the trustees expended $1,500 in the construction of a building (the present frame structure that houses the Experiment Station offices) and $553.90 in plumbing and furnishings. Divi- sion of responsibilities was made so that the field experiments could be carried out at Storrs on the school farm, while the "more purely scientific investigations" were to be carried on in the chemical laboratory at Wesleyan. Cooperative field experiments on the effects of fertilizers in the production of crops were arranged on private farms in all counties of the State. For a number of years these cooperative experiments formed a considerable part of the station's work and accomplished much in the cause of dissemination of better agricultural practices.

The First Annual Report of the Storrs School Agricul- tural Experiment Station lists the following lines of investigations under way by June 30, 1888 RESEARCH, THE CORNERSTONE OF PROGRESS 219

Cooperative field experiments on the effects of fertilizers and the production of crops. These have been performed by the Station in Mans- field and by a considerable number of farmers under the direction of the Station, in all of the counties of the State.

Vegetable experiments in pots and boxes for studying the sources of nitrogen in plants.

The establishment of a Grass and Forage Garden to test the adapta- bility of grasses and other plants for culture in Connecticut.

Plans were made for experiments upon the effects of surface tillage upon soil moisture, for the study of the root development of plants, and of the values of foods and feeding stuffs, by chemical analysis, and experiments with the calorimeter.

Although not at first officially a member of the experiment station staff, Dr. H. W. Conn, professor of biology at Wesleyan, undertook an investigation of the micro- organisms that have to do with fermentation and other changes that take place in milk and during the ripening of cream. Results of this investigation were to attract attention throughout the world.

Meteorological observations were begun at Storrs and have been continued to the present, establishing a very useful record. Three bulletins were published during the first year.

The "working force" of the station was listed as follows : W. O. Atwater, director; C. S. Phelps, vice-director; C. D. Woods, chemist; H. B. Gibson, assistant chemist; E. A. Bailey, assistant in farm experiments. That the Storrs School Agricultural Experiment Station was able so quickly to plunge into important work and to show at an early date some truly remarkable progress was due in large measure to the training and experience of its director, W. O. Atwater, and to the previous investigations at Wesleyan. Atwater and his associates had continued their interest in agricultural and related problems after the State appropriations had lapsed and Wesleyan had not ceased to foster scientific investigations along this 220 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

line. On October 1, 1888, Dr. Atwater was called to Washington to organize the Office of Experiment Stations, and although he continued in close touch with the work at Storrs and Middletown, his attention until 1892 was largely devoted to the national problem, and C. D. Woods, chem-

ist, became acting director. In his work with the Office of Experiment Stations, Atwater established a brilliant record.

Management of the station was early entrusted to an Executive Committee consisting- of T. S. Gold of West

Cornwall and J. M. Hubbard of Middletown, representing the Board of Trustees, and B. F. Koons, principal of the Storrs Agricultural School. This committee worked very closely with the officers of the station. As Prof. Samuel W. Johnson continued as a trustee of the Storrs Agricul- tural School and Dr. Atwater had early been appointed to the Board of Control of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, there was a close relationship between the two stations in spite of the feeling that had occurred over the Hatch Act and the gradual unfolding of the Yale-Storrs Controversy.

The Executive Committee continued to strain all of the humble resources at its command to build up the equipment at Storrs to the point where the school farm could carry on independent work and leave the laboratories at Wesleyan free to continue their important investigations in chemistry, bacteriology and biology. During the winter of 1890 a barn was erected at the Station at Storrs and four grade Jersey cows were purchased as the nucleus of feeding experiments in relation to milk production.

The Third Annual Report of the Storrs School Agricul- tural Experiment Station for 1890 expressed appreciation

of the public spirit of J. W. Alsop of Middletown in making available a tract of ground and in a gift of $500 for a study of the assimilation of the free or uncombined Upper—Student Military Officers, 1902-03. Lower—The Officers' Club, 1931. > RESEARCH, THE CORNERSTONE OF PROGRESS 221 nitrogen of the atmosphere by plants. This contribution was made directly to the work at Wesleyan. Experiments on the acquisition of atmospheric nitrogen by growing- plants had been conducted at Wesleyan for a number of years and under the stimulus of this gift further discoveries were made. Speaking before the State Board of Agriculture in 1896, Dr. E. H. Jenkins declared that the two principal contributions of experiment stations up to that time were the invention of the Babcock Test at Wisconsin and the discovery in Connecticut of the ability of leguminous crops to appropriate nitrogen from the air. This work of Atwater and Woods he rated as the most brilliant accomplishment of any experiment station. Ger- man scientists, working independently, arrived at similar results about the same time as Atwater and Woods. The respiration calorimeter was invented and perfected in the laboratories at Wesleyan under Dr. Atwater's direction and the bomb calorimeter was improved there, and these continued to play an important part in investigations of food values. In 1890 relations were entered into with the United States Department of Labor which for a number of years bore the expense of a comprehensive study of human dietaries, the United States Department of Agricul- ture later taking over support of this work through a special appropriation of Congress. Over a period of years the calorimeter studies were carried on both with food products and on animal nutrition with remarkable results. In 1893 Dr. Atwater had charge of an exhibit of prepared food products at the World's Fair at Chicago. The staff of chemists at Wesleyan and much of the equipment were moved to Chicago during the summer and a striking exhibit was prepared. In all about six hundred food samples were collected for the exhibit and the work of analyzing them was carried on during the fair. This work was continued after the exposition closed and more than five hundred samples in all were analyzed, making a large contribution :

222 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

to the existing knowledge of the chemistry of foods. The Paris Exposition of 1900 awarded a gold medal to Dr. Atwater for a Station exhibit which included models of both the bomb calorimeter and the respiration calorimeter. The Franklin Institute of Philadelphia about the same time awarded gold medals to Professors Atwater and Rosa on account of the Atwater-Rosa respiration calorimeter. In 1893 the name of the station was changed to "Storrs Agricultural Experiment Station," the word "School" being dropped. The report of the director for 1895 says "The General Assembly at its last session provided an annual appropriation of $1,800 for the Storrs Station to be used 'for the purpose of investigating the economy of the food and nutrition of man and for investigations of the bacteria of milk, butter and cheese and their effect in dairying.' ' This is the first instance of a direct appropriation by the State to the work of the Storrs Agricul- tural Experiment Station. Previously the only funds available were the $7,500 from the Hatch Act, contributions from the United States Department of Labor, and later from the United States Department of Agriculture, occasional gifts from public-spirited citizens, and the very considerable contributions made by Wesleyan University in equipment and materials and in the time of members of its staff. Examination of the early reports and bulletins of the station indicate very definitely that the personality and leadership of Atwater and the generous attitude of the

officials at Wesleyan brought to this little experiment station a measure of support from outside sources that greatly augmented the meagre public appropriations. Charles D. Woods, chemist and vice-director, resigned July 1, 1896, to become professor of agriculture and director of the experiment station at Maine State College. This removed one of the most active members of the station staff. Woods had served as acting director while Atwater was in Washington and later in Europe and had RESEARCH, THE CORNERSTONE OF PROGRESS 223 contributed much to the early scientific work and to the publications of the station. C. S. Phelps, professor of agriculture in Storrs Agricultural College, again became vice-director of the station. Feeding and digestion experiments with sheep were begun in 1893 and the station report for 1896 devoted considerable space to irrigation experiments then under way, particularly with strawberries on the farm of J. C. Eddy at Simsbury. The various investigations of crops and soils, the meteorological records, the cattle- feeding experiments and other lines of investigation were being prose- cuted vigorously at Storrs and on cooperating farms throughout the State, but the principal lines of progress continued to be the nutrition studies of Atwater and his associates and the revolutionary study of the bacteria of milk by Conn. Out of the investigations on dairy bacteria were to come the "Storrs Milk Pail," known from coast to coast as probably the first widely used covered pail, and a campaign for dairy sanitation that has been of immeasurable benefit to mankind. The first covered milk pail used at Storrs apparently was one designed by F. H. Stadtmuller of West Hartford and used by Prof. C. L. Beach in the dairy at Connecticut Agricultural College. This pail was described in detail in the report of 1901. It was later modified at the station and came into wide use. Experiments with bovine tuberculosis were described in the report for 1897. In 1898, Professor Conn spent the year in Europe largely in the study of this problem. During his absence his work in Connecticut was carried on by his assistant, W. M. Esten, who was later to succeed him on the station staff.

Dropping the Pilot

In 1902 there came a definite but not an absolute break with Wesleyan. Ambitions were again stirring at Storrs 224 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE and there was some irritation at having the experiment station work directed from Middletown. Farmers throughout the State were inclined to think that the investigations at Middletown were too abstract and not so closely allied to their interests as were the studies at Storrs and the cooperative tests on individual farms. Dr. Atwater had aroused considerable discussion by the publication of the results of studies on the food value of alcohol and this may have affected the situation. The principal factor in the change, however, was the impatience of farmers for immediate results on their specific problems and their intense partisanship for Storrs. President Stimson of the college was quick to take advantage of the situation. The New England Homestead of May, 1902, reviewed the movement at length and expressed the current conviction that Storrs was now able to stand on its own feet. The Fifteenth Annual Report for the year ending June 30, 1903, indicated a number of changes. The old Execu- tive Committee was replaced by a Station Council consisting of R. W. Stimson, president of the college, G. A. Hopson, appointed by the Board of Trustees, L. A. Clinton, as director of the station, and A. G. Gulley and C. L. Beach, appointed by the station staff. Prof. Clinton had succeeded Dr. Atwater as director, with the change of head- quarters from Middletown to Storrs. Phelps had already resigned, in the winter of 1901-02. Atwater ceased to be director in September, 1902, but both Atwater and Conn retained connections with the station and continued their work at Middletown with restricted funds. Atwater's last appearance on the station staff was in the report of 1904, while Dr. Conn severed his connection with the station during the year ended June 30, 1906. Dr. Atwater died at Middletown in 1907.*

* An excellent sketch of Dr. Atwater, written by Dr. Edward C. Schneider of Wesleyan, may be found in Bulletin 168 of the Storrs Agricultural Experiment Station. RESEARCH, THE CORNERSTONE OF PROGRESS 225

Reorganization of the station resulted in a widening of its scope of work and the inclusion of more departments at Storrs. Work in poultry and horticulture was undertaken and Director Clinton in his first report indicated a tendency to carry the work of the station to the farmers through the medium of Farmers' Institutes. In 1904 studies in the manufacture of cheese, particularly the Roquefort and Camembert types, were undertaken and much progress was made in this work under the direction of the mycologist, Dr. Charles Thorn

The eighteenth report of the station, for the year ending June 30, 1906, stressed the importance of the recent Adams Act of Congress, which provided an initial appropriation of $5,000 to each state, to be increased $2,000 each year until the amount reached $15,000. This appropriation, like that of the Hatch Act, was divided equally between the stations at Storrs and New Haven.

The 1907-08 and 1908-09 reports were printed as a biennial to conform to a change in State law. This report chronicles the addition of Dr. Leo F. Rettger of the Depart- ment of Bacteriology and Hygiene at Yale to the Storrs staff, principally for the investigation of "white diarrhea" in chicks, which Dr. Rettger had already begun. The out- come was successful, the causal organism being discovered and the method of control developed. In this report Dr. C. D. Jarvis, horticulturist, mentions the fact that no funds were available at that time for extension work but that he had been active with Farmers' Institutes, Granges, etc.

Late in 1911 the Storrs International Egg Laying Con- test was established as a joint enterprise of the Connecticut Agricultural College and the Philadelphia North American. This is frequently referred to as the first contest of its kind in the world, but such is hardly the case. The plan was borrowed from Australia where the Sidney Daily Tele- graph and the Hawkesberry Agricultural College at Rich- 226 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE mond, New South Wales, had been conducting such a contest since 1901. Two other contests, one in British Columbia and one at Mountain Grove, Mo., were established about the same time as the Storrs contest, but the latter has had much the larger patronage. After the first two years the North American dropped out and the Storrs Agricultural Experiment Station assumed a joint responsibility with the college poultry department. The contest, under the direction of Prof. Kirkpatrick, has been of great value in affording opportunities for scientific investigations in egg production. Among the important bulletins published by the experiment station probably none has had a greater vogue than Bulletin No. 69, "New England Trees in Winter," written by A. F. Blakeslee and C. D. Jarvis, and printed in June, 1911. Calls continue to come in for this old bulletin.

A Joint Directorship

Early cooperation between the two* experiment stations in Connecticut had been assisted by the representation of Prof. Johnson on the college Board of Trustees and of Dr. Atwater on the Board of Control of the New Haven station. In December, 1912, Prof. L. A. Clinton resigned as director of the Storrs station to accept a position with the United States Department of Agriculture. He was succeeded by Dr. E. H. Jenkins who in 1900 had succeeded Prof. Johnson as director of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station. Dr. Jenkins served on the staff of the original station at Wesleyan and had been connected with the New Haven station from its beginning. The appointment of one director for the two stations was intended to further insure harmony of purpose and to prevent duplication of effort. From the beginning there had been a tendency to specialize at Storrs in problems of RESEARCH, THE CORNERSTONE OF PROGRESS 227

animal industry and to leave plant work to the New Haven

station. While it has been obviously impracticable to make this division of responsibility absolute, it has continued to form the basis on which the programs of the two stations are coordinated. Regulatory and inspection work, except in those matters in which the State has seen fit to retain control from Hartford, have been delegated to the New Haven station. Particularly in the dairy and poultry industries the station at Storrs has found its principal spheres of work and it is along these lines that some of its most important contributions have been made.

In his first report, for the years 1911-12 and 1912-13, Dr. Jenkins mentions a new twelve-acre experimental field which had been prepared for the agronomy department and which has continued to serve as the principal source of field work. The field experiments were developed around the livestock industry; alfalfa, silage and forage crops in general being the more important problems studied. In this report Dr. Jenkins also advocated a comprehensive study of the problem of contagious abortion of cattle and in the summer of 1914 Professor White and Dr. Rettger embarked on the long and effective campaign against this disease.

The war period seriously disrupted the work of the station and it was some time after the war that the former routine could be effectively resumed. The report issued in 1923 covered a period of four years. In this report Dr. Jenkins stressed the final stages of the study of rose chafers as a cause of death of chickens and the satisfactory progress of the study of the sheep stomach worm, both by Professor Lamson. W. L. Slate had become vice-director of the station. L. C. Dunn had joined the staff and was attracting wide attention by his studies in genetics.

The Purnell Act became a law on February 24, 1925, and this act guaranteed to Connecticut an eventual sum of $60,000 annually. As in the case of other federal grants, :

228 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE the fund was divided equally between the two stations. Since these funds became available, studies have been undertaken in agricultural economics, rural sociology, and home economics. In 1919 the pasture improvement studies were undertaken by the agronomy department on a tract of land near Spring Hill. Among the newer undertakings of the station this investigation has already assumed a pronounced importance. Dr. Jenkins retired from active direction of the two experiment stations in 1923 and was succeeded by W. L. Slate, agronomist since 1913. The two stations have continued to grow in prestige and effectiveness under his management. An animal diseases laboratory had been advocated for many years but in 1927 the General Assembly appropriated $28,000 for such a building and in 1929 increased the amount to $42,000. The building, the Atwater Labora- tory, was dedicated June 12, 1930. The laboratory also houses the department of animal breeding. Except for the small frame office building erected in 1888 it is the only building of consequence that has ever been erected for the exclusive use of the Storrs Agricultural Experiment Station.

Without attempting to present an inclusive list of the achievements of the Storrs Agricultural Experiment Sta- tion, the following may serve to acquaint the reader with some of its noteworthy results

First to describe and classify the bacteria of milk and milk products. Contributed much to our knowledge of the place of legumes in a soil fertility program. Except for the importance of vitamines contributed some of our most fundamental knowledge of diets and food values. I RESEARCH, THE CORNERSTONE OF PROGRESS 229

Made one of the first careful studies of the costs of producing milk.

Helped establish our present practices in feeding and management of dairy cattle.

One of the first to determine the relation of bovine tuberculosis to public health.

Worked out the correct principles and practices of incubation of eggs.

Determined the nature and control of bacillary white diarrhea of chicks.

Developed control measures for the stomach worm of sheep.

Established methods by which contagious abortion may be eradicated from dairy herds.

Demonstrated value of certified seed potatoes.

Discovered a method of mating by which the sex of day-old chicks may be determined.

Conducts the Storrs International Egg Laying Contest.

In a brief sketch such as this only a superficial treatment of the results of investigations at Storrs station has been possible. Many important contributions have not been mentioned at all and many names have been omitted that would figure prominently in any comprehensive history of the station. Within a few years the Storrs Agricultural Experiment Station will itself have passed the half-century milestone, and if this chapter can serve as a starting point for a more complete account at that time of the station's record it will have accomplished all that may properly be expected of it. CHAPTER XIII

THE COLLEGE GOES TO THE PEOPLE

WITH the passage by Congress of the Smith-Lever Act of 1914 was added the third great function of the modern land grant college—that of the Extension Ser- vice. Most of the colleges, including the Connecticut Agricultural College, were already doing extension work

after a fashion; but the Smith-Lever Act, because it definitely established the status of this method of teaching and committed the Federal and State governments to substantial appropriations in its behalf, must be ranked in importance along with the Land Grant Act of 1862 and the Hatch Act of 1887. "^ , The antecedents of the national agricultural extension movement are somewhat indefinite until the advent on the scene in 1903 of Dr. Seaman A. Knapp and his plan for meeting the threat of the cotton boll weevil. Out of that

/ combination grew the Smith-Lever Act, but it does not by any means mark the beginning of efforts at agricultural J X^,€xtension work.

| Perhaps the first attempt in America to employ extension methods of teaching was that of the Franciscan monks in 1629 when they sought to introduce European practices in agriculture to the Pueblo Indians of the Southwest. The early agricultural societies carried on propaganda for better agriculture through publications, lectures and discussions. New York, in 1843, and Maryland, in 1848, employed lecturers on agricultural subjects. None of these undertakings suggest the modern system of extension work. An approach to the modern method of agricultural extension teaching came in 1824 when Stephen Van Renn- selaer, a large landholder in New York, employed Amos THE COLLEGE GOES TO THE PEOPLE 231

". Eaton . . to traverse the state on or near the line of the Erie Canal, provided with sufficient apparatus and speci- mens to deliver, in all the principal towns where an audience of business men or others could be collected, a series of lectures, accompanied with experiments and illustrations on 'chemistry, natural philosophy, and some or all of the branches of natural history.' This undertaking was entirely successful.* Some authorities intimate that Eaton also made farm visits on horseback, carrying the message of improved agriculture. Farmers' institutes must be considered among the early efforts at agricultural extension. These evidently began with the Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture in 1853. They continued with increasing popularity for many years, gradually losing ground after the Smith-Lever Act revolutionized extension methods. The University Extension plan, which originated in England in 1866, and slowly filtered into America, also exerted an influence. Home study courses, popular bulletins from the agricultural colleges or their experiment stations, and efforts of the experiment stations to reach the farmers through lectures or field tests, all contributed to the development of extension work. The University of Illinois in 1902 established a distinct department of extension in its agricultural college. In 1892 the cotton boll weevil crossed the Rio Grande and in ten years had advanced deep into the heart of the cotton belt, leaving a trail of desolation and despair. Early in 1903 Dr. Seaman A. Knapp called together a group of business men and farmers at Terrell, Texas, and a successful demonstration of contending with the boll weevil was arranged on the farm of Walter C. Porter. During the same year Congress appropriated $250,000 to fight the boll weevil, and $40,000 of this sum was assigned to Dr. Knapp. The Fort Worth and Denver Railroad provided

* A History of Agricultural Education in the United States, by Alfred Charles True. 232 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE an agricultural train, and in February, 1904, Dr. Knapp sent W. D. Bentley on a tour of ten counties to explain his demonstration plan. Twenty agents were employed in Texas, three in Louisiana and one in Arkansas in 1904. These were not county agents but each worked as much territory as possible along lines of railway. In this way was started the cooperative demonstration work. The first county agent was W. C. Stallings in Smith County, Texas, appointed November 12, 1906. Home demonstration work got its start from the farm demonstration and from girls' clubs. A Boys' Corn Club had been organized in Macou- pin County, 111., in 1899, and Dr. Knapp early saw the possibilities of corn clubs, calf clubs, potato clubs, canning clubs, etc., as a support to his plan of diversified farming, his main solution to the boll weevil problem. Out of Dr. Knapp's endeavors grew the idea of cooperative farm demonstration work on a national scale. Repeated efforts to pass such a measure through Congress, beginning in 1909, culminated in the Smith-Lever Act, which was approved by President Wilson on May 8, 1914.

The act provided an annual initial appropriation of $10,000 for each state, with an additional $4,100,000 of Federal funds to be apportioned among the several states in proportion to the relation of the rural population of each state to the total rural population of the United States. The states were required to match the Federal appropriation except for the initial $10,000. The original appropriations have been increased and the first plans inaugurated for carrying on agricultural extension work have been materially expanded, but the original goal of carrying to men and women, boys and girls, of American farms the practical information of the colleges and experiment stations remains the same as in 1914. The Extension Ser- vice, as the third great function of the land grant college system, has truly extended the college campus to the boundaries of the State. THE COLLEGE GOES TO THE PEOPLE 233

Early Extension Work at Storrs

The Report of the Board of Trustees for 1893 carries

this statement : "In order to extend the benefits of the col-

lege and to make it of the largest value to agricultural

interests of the State, it is proposed to establish an extension course of home study for those who desire to take up a systematic course of reading along the lines pursued at the college. A committee of the faculty has the matter in hand."

It was Prof. A. B. Peebles, who had come to Storrs from Michigan a few years previously, who supplied the drive for extension work. The first efforts at Storrs were quite patently based on methods of "University Extension," then getting under way in several of the larger colleges and universities. Apparently little headway was made at Storrs until 1896. Perhaps the best account of the early extension work is that contained in a handwritten manuscript by T. S. Gold, evidently written about 1900 as a part of the history of the college which he undertook but never completed. The following passage from this manuscript will serve to illustrate the nature of the work carried on at Storrs for several years :

University Extension

At the annual meeting of the Trustees, Feb. 12, 1896, President B. F. Koons reported a plan of systematic reading for farmers, with lectures and discussions. This was further explained by Prof. A. B. Peebles and it was voted that a sum not exceeding $500 for one year be appropriated to carry out the proposed plan, conditioned that the students at the college receive their full amount of instruction. Prof. Peebles as Secretary of this department reported in January, 1897, the plan and progress of the work. The work of the extension department was formally entered upon in October, 1896.

The plan consists of a course for ladies and one for gentlemen. It is intended to cover two years' time, each year is divided into four periods of two months each, beginning with October. A text-book is provided for each period and at the close of the period an examina- 234 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

tion paper is sent to each member. Books are provided at cost and by special arrangement with the publishers it has been possible to reduce the cost of the year's books to about two dollars and a half ($2.50).

It was provided that at any grange or any other association where a circle of ten or more was formed during the year two members of the college faculty would spend a day and an evening with the circle, providing lectures in connection with the subjects studied, to close with a popular illustrated lecture in the evening.

There have been twelve circles formed, the largest of which is at

Middlebury, with a membership of about forty. January 1, 1897, total membership two hundred and three. The success of this first year was very gratifying, giving high promise for the future. A list of this first class was given in the College Report for 1896.

Two Travelling Libraries of fifty volumes to remain six months each are furnished by the college to circles that have completed the course. All this work required much time in correspondence and arrangement. June 14, 1898, was marked as Extension Day on Commencement Week. Addresses, essays, music, etc., and presentation of certificates to thirty- one members who had completed the course.

Home study courses and the travelling libraries continued to function for several years but not always with complete success. This work carried no special appropriations and members of the staff had to supervise it in addition to carrying class schedules that sometimes were over- loaded. After 1901 more stress seems to have been placed on the summer school as a means of contact with persons interested in nature study and country life. Short courses were also being instituted and at times the home study courses lagged for lack of energetic supervision from Storrs.

There was growing up a new form of extension work, informal in organization but of increasing importance. The Experiment Station had always maintained contacts with farmers through cooperative field tests and public meetings. Members of the college faculty were in demand for addresses at farmers' institutes, granges, or agricultural society meetings. These demands sometimes necessitated abandonment of class schedules. The Catalog of 1909 THE COLLEGE GOES TO THE PEOPLE 235

recognized the growing burden of this work. "Agricul-

tural Extension," it said, "aims to extend directly to farmers the results of scientific research and experiments." A plea was made for funds to hire special instructors for this work and thus to relieve the burden on the regular college staff.

Origin of the Present Extension Service

Organization of the present Extension Service grew out of cooperative orchard demonstrations carried on jointly by the college and the Connecticut Pomological Society and supervised by C. D. Jarvis, horticulturist for the Storrs Agricultural Experiment Station. The Biennial Report of the Trustees published in November, 1910, carried a request for a biennial appropriation of $5,000 to support the orchard demonstration project and to hire extension lecturers.

For several years before the final passage of the Smith- Lever Act, the Department of Farm Management of the United States Department of Agriculture was actively carrying on extension work with its own funds. The Biennial Report of the Trustees for the period ending in November, 1912, announced that the Department of Farm Management had offered to pay one-half the salary of a state superintendent of agricultural extension in Con- necticut and to meet one-half the salary of an "agricultural adviser" in each county of the State. The trustees asked for a special appropriation of $25,000 for two years to meet this offer. "Movable Schools of Agriculture" were held during the winter of 1911-1912 at South Manchester, Enfield and Danbury. Requests for similar schools were coming in from many places. The General Assembly of 1913 appropriated $5,000 annually for two years for support of extension work in :

236 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE agriculture and the Extension Service was created the same year. C. D. Jarvis was given the title of Director of Exten- sion Work. The General Assembly of 1915 increased its appropriations to $7,500 annually.

The 1914 Catalog listed the staff of the newly-organized Extension Service

Extension Service

C. D. Jarvis, Director and Horticulturist H. F. Keyes, Farm Efficiency Agent

A. J. Brundage, in charge of Boys' and Girls' Clubs R. E. Jones, Poultryman Karl B. Musser, Dairyman H. O. Daniels, Farm Management Demonstrator Murray D. Lincoln, County Agent, New London County

Jarvis was soon called to Washington to accept new responsibilities and in 1915 H. J. Baker was selected as Director of Extension Service. I. G. Davis became Assistant State Leader. Miss M. E. Sprague joined the staff as Assistant in Boys' and Girls' Clubs. The following county agents were appointed : F. C. Warner, New

London County; S. J. Wright, Fairfield County; A. W.

Manchester, Litchfield County ; W. C. Kennedy, Windham County; W. A. Cook, Hartford County; and F. E. Rogers, New Haven County. John H. Fay was on the 1916 list as county_ag£nt-oi--Mi4dlesex_ County. Late in the same year B. W. Ellis replaced the agent in Wind- ham County, and with the appointment about the same time of John E. GifforgMn Tolland County, every county was organize37*~Home demonstration agents were soon added to the staff, Alice B. Knowlton in New Haven County being the first.

The first Biennial Report of the Extension Service, for the two years ended September 30, 1916, carried individual reports by Karl Musser, Extension dairyman, Roy E.

Jones, Extension poultryman, H. J. Baker and I. G. Davis :

THE COLLEGE GOES TO THE PEOPLE 237

on county agent work, I. G. Davis and B. A. McDonald on farm management demonstration, A. J. Brundage and M. Estella Sprague on Boys' and Girls' Clubs, and H. O. Daniels on farm demonstration work. These early reports indicate quite definitely that the new Extension Service was carefully organized and that intelligent thought had been given to its functions and its responsibilities.

The 1916 report, in addition to detailed statements from staff members, carried the following summary of the work attempted in two years

The activities of the Extension Service for the last two years have been confined mainly to Dairying, Poultry, Farm Management, Boys' and Girls' Clubs in Agriculture, and Home Economics, and to County Agent Work. In addition to this work, four-day Extension Schools in Agriculture and Home Economics have been held; a Press Bulletin, sent to all the papers in the State and to leading agricultural publications, has been maintained ; bulletins and' circulars on agricultural subjects have been published; Fair Exhibits have been made; Farmers'

Institute work has been conducted ; and a large number of lectures have been given in cooperation with granges, Young Men's Christian Associations, agricultural societies, and women's meetings. Farmers' meetings at the College have been held, judges at fairs have been provided, milk and butter scoring contests have been conducted.

In April, 1917, the Farm Bureau News was started with I. G. Davis as editor. Its purpose was to make the newly- created Farm Bureau organizations more effective in carrying out the war program, then being formulated. The name was later changed to Extension Service News and eventually to the Connecticut Agricultural College Review.

The War Period

The statement has often been made that the modern Extension Service grew out of the war. This is true only in degree. Every county in Connecticut had been organized for extension work prior to America's entry into the 238 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE war. The start of specialists, while small, was well selected and was being expanded as rapidly as funds would permit. What the war did was to speed up the machinery tremendously and to make available financial resources far beyond the expectancy of natural growth. It also provided contacts and elements of cooperation little short of impossible in peace time.

It is manifestly impossible in a brief sketch to do more than outline the part the Extension Service played in the war. Mention has been made of the principal phases of this contribution in Chapter VIII. At the opening of hostilities, the entire resources of the college were mobilized and, under the direction of the Extension Sen-ice, were placed at the disposal of the Food Committee of the State

Council of Defense. I. G. Davis, county agent leader, was established in the office of the Food Committee. Miss M. E. Sprague was made Home Economics Director in charge of food conservation on the Food Administration staff. Boys' and Girls' Club work, under the direction of

A. J. Brundage, was enlisted in the Junior Food Army. Guy C. Smith, Extension Agent in Marketing, was made responsible for marketing and distribution problems of the Food Committee. Publicity for the Food Committee was headed up by Glenn H. Campbell of the Extension Service, and after he joined the army Prof. William F. Kirk- patrick carried on this work. All extension activities were correlated with the Food Committee's program. At the request of the Council of Defense an agricultural census was completed in five counties. Emergency war planting, food conservation measures, solution of seed and labor problems on farms and numerous other war-born activities were added to or supplanted the regular duties of the extension staff. The war did not change, except temporarily, the natural development of the Extension Sen-ice but it did advance the progress of this work by several years. the college goes to the people 239

Post-war Development

Close of the war left the Extension Service with a greatly increased staff and with a new conception of the importance and possibilities of the work. The approaching General Assembly must determine whether increased appropriations would be continued or the Extension Service return to its pre-war status. The answer was to come from the farm homes of Connecticut. The possibilities of extension work were widely recognized and warmly championed, and the next few years were to witness a rapid but solid expansion over the pre-war status. While Federal appropriations dropped sharply at the end of the war, State appropriations advanced materially.

The agricultural specialist and the count}- agent had been established as definite additions to the work of the college, even before the war. Their continuance was doubly assured. Kome demonstration work vindicated itself during the war and a new realization was born of the place of Boys' and Girls' Clubs in an educational program.

In 1923 Director H. J. Baker accepted an invitation to become director of the Extension Service in Xew Jersey. He was succeeded by B. W. Ellis, who had joined the Extension Service in 1916 as county agent in Windham County7 and who was called to Storrs soon after the close of the war to head up the count}- agent work. Mr. Ellis has continued as director.

In the development of the extension system, hundreds of farm citizens have given unsparingly of time and thought. The Farm Bureau organizations are the backbone of the modern plan. County agents and specialists unite on a common program and their work is made effective by volunteer cooperation of leaders of farm thought in even- community. 240 the connecticut agricultural college

The Work in Agriculture

Dairying—In 1915 the Extension Service began supplying forms for constructing silos. Farmers kept daily milk records on sheets supplied by the dairy specialist. Seven cow testing associations were supervised, demonstration herds were established, milk and butter were scored at fairs and farm visits were made. In 1916 county agents helped organize the Connecticut Milk Producers' Association and Connecticut units of the New England Milk Producers' Association. To these first enterprises were later added programs for better breeding, control of contagious diseases and assistance in the campaigns for increased milk consumption. By 1926 the lowering of production costs had assumed first importance in dairy work. During 1925 and 1926 Connecticut twice broke the national record in the Purebred Sire Campaign, first New London County and then New Haven County taking the honors. In 1930 a state-wide dairy survey was completed and this is serving as a basis for the present dairy program.

Poultry—Agglutination tests for bacillary white diarrhea formed an important part of the first organized poultry extension work. Control of this disease is a triumph which the Extension Service shares with the Experiment Station. The "Slacker Hen Campaign" of 1918 marked a high point in the efficiency of extension drives. The Home Egg Laying Contest, first of its kind in the country, was started in the fall of 1918. In 1925 a survey disclosed the fact that loss of young chicks annually amounted to twenty- five per cent. Out of this study grew the "Grow Healthy Chicks Campaign," success of which has attracted national attention. The Connecticut Record of Performance Poul- try Breeders' Association was organized in 1927. Vac- cination for the control of chicken pox has assumed impor- THE COLLEGE GOES TO THE PEOPLE 241

tance during the past two years. Prevention of disease and increase in efficiency of egg production have occupied the major attention of the poultry specialist.

Farm Management—During the first two years of the Extension Service about one thousand farm management records were taken in each of seven counties as a basis for the new county movement. The business side of farming has always been stressed in extension work. The first farm account book was issued in 1916. The "Young Farmers Clubs," organized in 1921, have proven of inesti- mable value. In cooperation with county agents and specialists, farm management principles have been applied to all production branches of the service. Economics and Marketing—In the summer of 1917 the Extension Service in cooperation with the United States Bureau of Markets and the Bridgeport Fruit and Vegetable Association established a daily reporting service on the Bridgeport market. The success of this plan led to its extension the following summer to Hartford, New Haven and Waterbury. Later the egg market was included in the reports. From this beginning developed a State-wide market reporting service. Later the work was taken over by the Office of the Commissioner of Agriculture.

Cooperative buying and selling organizations were undertaken early. By 1918, twelve organizations had been formed for the purpose of buying feeds and fertilizers. The Extension Service assisted in starting the egg marketing associations of the State.

The Economic Digest, a monthly review of the agricultural business situation, was started in June, 1928. In 1929 and 1930 Connecticut Policy Conferences were held during Farmers' Week at the college, one important outgrowth of these conferences being a study of rural taxation. 242 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

Assistance in marketing problems has been given to all of the farm industries of Connecticut.

Field Crops—The first full-time extension specialist in agronomy began work in September, 1918. Prior to that time much work in soils and crops had been done by a part-time specialist or by other members of the staff. In the spring of 1918 the seed corn situation was acute.

Connecticut not only tested all of the seed corn planted locally but supplied six carloads of tested corn to North Dakota and Wisconsin, where conditions due to "frosted corn" were especially bad. A campaign for alfalfa on dairy farms resulted in an increase in acreage of live hundred per cent between 1919 and 1926. The use of improved seed potatoes has become a universal practice throughout Connecticut as a result of a campaign of the field crops and vegetable specialists to acquaint farmers with the importance of planting certified seed. The increased value of the potato crop due to the use of certified seed in 1923 alone was estimated at $300,000. Better seed, fertilization, tillage, pastures and cropping systems are among the practices that have been emphasized.

Sheep—An extension sheep specialist was appointed in November, 1917. Establishment by the State in 1919 of a sheep distribution flock at Spring Hill facilitated the work. In recent years much of the specialist's time has been devoted to Boys' and Girls' Sheep Clubs. Animal Husbandry—Swine-growing received a big impetus from the war and a specialist in this project was appointed. The work has been continued, but largely in connection with Baby Beef, Dairy Calf, and Pig Clubs, all of which have flourished from time to time.

Beekeeping—A specialist in beekeeping was employed in September, 1918, and the work has been continued. Beekeeping has been facilitated by a State law which THE COLLEGE GOES TO THE PEOPLE 243 requires registration of colonies of bees. Realization of the importance of bees in cross-pollination has encouraged the industry as a side-line to fruit growing.

Fruit—Although the present Extension Service grew out of orchard demonstrations, from 1915 to 1920 there was no specialist on the staff, Prof. Hollister of the college faculty devoting a fourth of his time to the Extension Service. In 1920 a full-time specialist was employed. Application of nitrate of soda and sulphate of ammonia in demonstration orchards brought increased yields of from twenty-five to one hundred per cent. In 1926 thirty- four packing and grading demonstrations were conducted in cooperation with the Commissioner of Agriculture. Much attention was given to home storage of fruit. Beginning in 1928, Connecticut joined other New England states in a better variety program which included standardization on "The New England Seven." In 1929 and 1930 especial attention was given to an apple pest control program. The "90% Clean Apple Club" was started in 1930.

Vegetables—In 1921 an Extension Vegetable Specialist was employed. A considerable portion of his work has been devoted to decreasing the losses from insects and diseases which cause damage to vegetable crops in Connecticut estimated in 1926 at $3,000,000 annually. Small greenhouse construction, early plants, certified seed potatoes and better cultural and marketing practices have occupied much attention. In addition to the work with vegetable growers, many calls are received for assistance in landscape gardening and flower growing.

Farm and Home Engineering—In 1921 a farm and home engineering specialist was added to the staff. Ditch- ing and drainage of land, particularly with dynamite, were undertaken, and some effective results were obtained. 244 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

Improvement of methods of selecting, operating and caring for farm machinery made marked progress. Very real help was given in electric light, water supply and sewage disposal problems on the farms.

Forestry—Extension work in forestry was started on January 15, 1926. Farmers have been helped to realize greater economic returns from the farm woodlot. Weed- ing, thinning and selective cutting have received major emphasis. Many farmers have been encouraged to plant pines on waste land. The forestry work, while comparatively new, is recognized as a valuable contribution to the conservation of the State's resources.

Home Demonstration Work

Beginning in 1916, lectures on home economics formed a part of the programs at the Four-day Extension Schools held throughout the State. Eight such schools were held in 1916 and the next year Two-day Schools in home- making were held in four communities.

Miss M. E. Sprague was appointed State Home Demon- stration Leader in 1916, although the position was largely nominal until the summer of 1917. In September, 1916, Miss Alice B. Knowlton became home demonstration agent in New Haven County and this event marked the beginning of home demonstration work in Connecticut.

The war revolutionized home economics activities of the Extension Service. In May, 1917, a home demonstration agent was appointed in New London County. Hartford, Fairfield and Middlesex counties were organized in June, Litchfield County in July and Windham County in Sep- tember. Passage of the Emergency Appropriation Bill in August, 1917, provided funds for completing the county organizations and for food conservation agents in many THE COLLEGE GOES TO THE PEOPLE 245 of the cities. Home demonstration work was now on in earnest.

In cooperation with the Committee of Food Supply of the Council of Defense, canning schools were organized in June, 1917. Seven schools of a week each were held at the college. About four hundred and seventy-five women and twenty men attended these schools to fit themselves for community leadership in canning activities. These volunteer leaders later conducted one hundred and seventy canning demonstrations throughout the State. A special school was held at which fifty-seven domestic science teachers were trained to conduct canning classes for girls.

A special agent was appointed to conduct a cottage cheese campaign from April to October. This was highly successful. Milk was the one surplus food in Connecticut and a campaign to induce children to drink more milk was instituted. Out of this war work grew the educational program on the food value of milk, which has since proved of immense value not only to milk producers but to child health. End of the war found Connecticut with a highly efficient home economics organization for both rural and urban welfare. While the rural organization continued to function and expand, the work in Connecticut cities ceased after the war. The Smith-Lever Act contemplated only a rural organization.

Post-war development found its first problem in the building up of a staff of specialists at Storrs to strengthen the work being done in the counties. There was but one specialist on the staff and her energies were necessarily distributed over a wide variety of problems and eight counties. A food and nutrition specialist was soon added. Special- ists in rural health, clothing, and millinery were employed within the next two years. The addition of a farm and 246 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE home engineering expert gave part-time assistance on water, sewage and light problems. A home management specialist was employed in 1927.

In 1929, Home Makers' Week at the college brought an enrollment of fifty-five farm women. The number was increased to seventy the next year. Growing importance of home economics on the Farmers' Week program caused the name to be changed in 1929 to Farm and Home Week. County tours, in which farm women visit and study successful farm homes, have been instituted.

The present extension organization in home economics is directed by Miss Edith Mason, State Home Demonstra- tion Leader. The staff includes specialists in nutrition, health, clothing and home management, with home demonstration leaders in each of the counties. Groups of rural women in practically all towns of the State cooperate with this organization in bringing to the women of the farms modern scientific information touching on all the complicated problems of home-making. Betterment of rural living conditions is the principal goal and the service ranges all the way from campaigns for diphtheria immunization to the latest fad in hand-made lampshades. Hundreds of farm homes have installed modern plumbing as an outgrowth of the "Water at the Kitchen Sink" campaign. Homes and home grounds have been improved, farm families are being fed almost as scientifically as their livestock, clothing problems of mother and the children are being solved, health and sanitation are stressed, and, in brief, the farm home is outstripping the city home as an abode of health and happiness. The results have justified the faith of the founders of cooperative extension work who wove the principle of home demonstration into the Smith-Lever Act. the college goes to the people 247

Boys' and Girls' Clubs

Club work in Connecticut got its initial start from efforts of the State Board of Agriculture. A Boys' Corn Club was organized in 1911 and the next year seventy boys were entered in a corn-growing contest under supervision of Leonard H. Healey, secretary of the board. In 1914 the State Board of Agriculture turned over its corn club work to the Extension Service of the college. super- In January, 1914, A. J. Brundage, agricultural visor for the State Board of Education in the towns of Mansfield and Lebanon, was appointed to the staff of the Extension Service to organize Boys' and Girls' Clubs. The State Board of Education and the U. S. Department of Agriculture entered into cooperative agreement with the college to foster club work. The first 4-H Club in Con- necticut was the Mansfield Corn Club, organized in 1913. The Hadlyme Agricultural Club was organized the next year. In the summer of 1914 the State Board of Educa- tion offered an agricultural course at the Danbury Normal School and Brundage gave a course in elementary agriculture for rural teachers. Miss Esther Frink, a teacher, returned to her school at Lime Rock to organize the Lime Rock Agricultural Club.

Instruction in canning, gardening and poultry raising had been given in the Mansfield schools in 1913. The next year Miss M. E. Sprague was appointed assistant state club leader. The cold pack method of canning was coming into vogue and canning clubs became popular. Canning demonstrations had been given in practically every town in the State prior to the war and paved the way for Connecticut's remarkable record in war-time food preservation. A clothing club for girls was organized at Storrs in 1914.

In 1915 and 1916 Farm Bureaus in Windham, New London, Fairfield and New Haven counties accepted club 248 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE work as a part of their activities. Several towns employed paid leaders but for the most part club leadership was volunteer. In 1915, 3,129 boys and girls were enrolled in eleven types of clubs. In 1916 about one hundred and thirty Connecticut club members exhibited their products at the National Dairy Show held at Springfield, Mass.

The war greatly increased membership in Boys' and Girls' Clubs and the organization was merged for the period with the Connecticut Junior Food Army. Value of food products reported by club members in 1917 was in excess of $200,000 and this was increased in 1918. In 1918 there were four hundred and seventy-eight organized clubs with a total membership of 45,465. A county club agent had been installed in each county.

Garden supervisors were appointed in a number of towns during the war to supervise the food production efforts of boys and girls. In New Canaan, the garden supervisor has been continued. Emergency funds made possible a great expansion in club work during the war. Suspension of these funds at the end of the war left only four counties, Hartford, Middlesex, New Haven and Fairfield, with county club agents.

Much of the war growth had necessarily been of a mushroom character and the number of club members had increased beyond any possibility of careful supervision. Close of the war left the club department with the problem of reorganization on a peace-time basis. Club work had made a sound beginning before the war interruption, but in resuming club activities it was felt that the new work must be on a firm economic basis.

One of the first of the new ventures was the Goshen $1,000 Poultry Club, organized in November, 1918. Ten boys organized the club with a total of four hundred and fifty birds. Their goal was to obtain $1,000 profits above THE COLLEGE GOES TO THE PEOPLE 249

feed costs. The first year the boys cleared $1,752.72. The second year, with five hundred and forty-five birds, they made $3,073.80. The club continued to be successful, although changing conditions somewhat reduced net profits. This club attracted national attention and proved to be a stimulus to club work in this and other states. In 1919 three boys from the Goshen club entered Connecticut Agricultural College, bringing their birds with them as a means of meeting college expenses. Three poultry houses have since been built by subscriptions or by organizations to meet the needs of poultry club members who desire to follow this plan, and fourteen boys have availed themselves of this opportunity.

The first State-wide egg laying contest for juniors was started in 1915. The contest has since been enlarged and is a regular feature of the poultry club work. Some excellent records have been established in the contest.

The Boys' and Girls' Clubs have formed a strong recruiting field for the college. In 1925 the College 4-H Club was organized among former club members. In the school year 1930-31 eighty former club members were attending the college.

Former club members are now playing an important part in promoting club work. In 1926 two service clubs, one for boys and one for girls, were organized in Middlesex County to help make club work available to more rural young people. Similar clubs have been organized in Litchfield, New London, Tolland and New Haven counties. Local leaders are more and more recruited from the ranks of former club members.

The first Junior Short Course for 4-H Club members was held at the college in February, 1919, with an enrollment of seventy-seven boys and girls. This has become an annual custom, one week each summer being devoted to the project. In 1930 it seemed advisable to separate the

HIGH SCHOOL LIBRARY GREENWICH, CONNECTICUT 250 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE age groups for more effective results and the Older Club Members Conference resulted. Both events will be continued. Junior Short Course annually enrolls about three hundred and fifty youngsters and the Older Club Members Conference started with an enrollment of one hundred and sixteen.

In 1927 the General Assembly made available additional funds in support of club work so that club agents could be appointed in all counties. In 1929 the Capper-Ketcham Bill extended further federal aid to club work. Hartford and New Haven counties now have two agents on full time and Fairfield has joined with Litchfield and Tolland with New London in maintaining half-time club agents in each county. Windham and Middlesex counties still have but one club agent. With a total of twelve county club agents in the eight counties and an ever-increasing body of experienced and loyal local leaders, the club organization has reached a high peak of efficiency.

Farmers' Week

Among the numerous methods which have been employed by the Connecticut Agricultural College to establish contacts with the farmers of the State and to make available to them the full resources of the institution, none, perhaps, has had a more continuously successful record than Farmers' Week.

Each summer this event brings to Storrs several hundred of the best farmers of the State and the increasing interest of farm women and boys and girls in the programs has led to a widening of scope and an increase in educational opportunities until it has seemed advisable in recent years to change the name to Farm and Home Week. Starting as a series of summer meetings of the various agricultural THE COLLEGE GOES TO THE PEOPLE 251

societies,* the event has retained this important feature but has added many of the purposes and functions once attempted by Farmers' Institutes and Extension Schools.

Since 1914 Farmers' Week has been an established

custom although it did not formally assume that name for at least three years after. Although Farmers' Week has

not been exclusively an Extension Service project, it owes its inception and much of its later success to this division of the college.

Radio Broadcasting

The radio broadcasting station of the college was constructed in 1922. The first call letters were WABL. In 1925 the call letters were changed to WCAC. The station now operates on six hundred kilocycles, two hundred and fifty watts. In addition to the programs which have gone out over WCAC the college has at times maintained relations with WTIC at Hartford, which permitted broadcasting educational talks on agricultural and home economics subjects.

* Summer meetings at Storrs have been a feature of the poultrymen's organization since about 1905. C. A. C. REAL ESTATE OWNED AND FROM WHOM ACQUIRED From Whom Acquired Year Acres

1 Storrs, Augustus* . 1881 51 + 1 Storrs, Augustus* . 1881 13 + 1 Storrs, Augustus* . 1881 101 + 2 Valentine, B. E. ... 1896 125-

3 Storrs, Augustus* . 1890 iy2 4 King, J. B 1906 i JA S Palmer, G. S 1909 12 S Palmer, G. S 1909 11 5 Palmer, G. S 1909 15 S Palmer, G. S 1909 80 5 Palmer, G. S 1909 8 S Palmer, G. S 1909 4 6 Green, James C. ... 1909 65 7 Snow, David H. ... 1909 100 8 Whitney, M. B. ... 1910 2V2 9 Phelps, C. S 1909 Vz

10 Rosebrooks, George . 1909 ioy2 (2 parcels) Courtesy of Prof. A. E. Moss Gift. .. .

From Whom Acquired Year Acres

11 Clark, Eliz. A. D. . 1911 3

12 Jacobson, George . . 1911 104 + 13 Whitney, M. B. ... 1915 9 +

14 Childs Lumber Co. . 1915 171 +

15 Nichols, C. T. & L. . 1915 5 16 Whitney, M. B. ... 1918 15 + 17 Patterson, H. S. ... 1917 .7

Wheeler, Kirkpatrick £c 1917 Vi

18 Fitts, J. N 1918 1 +

< 19 Beach, C. L 1918 27y2 k 20 Foley, Edward 1918 5/2 21 Hawkins, H. C. ... 1918 7 22 Valentine, B. E. ... 1918 35

23 Miller, J. S 1918 39 1918 6 +

25 Hauschild, Julius . 1918 12 26 Lamb Estate 1919 45 1919 Va

27 Rosebrooks, Charles . 1917 150

28 Hauschild, Julius . . 39 152 Sears, Bradley j 1 70 + 29 Longley, R. I 1926 5 30 Vinton, F. 1926 10 31 Lamb, G. B. B 1927 10 32 Garrigus, H. L. ... 1927 10 1927 right-of-way and land

34 Water Commission .

Wildes, W. P. & O. G . 1928 22

35 Storrs Cong. Church . . 1930 houseandlot (P indicates privately owned) INDEX

Abbott, Lyman, 26-28 Baiky, E. A., 219 Abel, M. F., 162 Bailey, L. H., 17 Abell, C. J., 190 Baker, H. J., 162, 236, 239 Acts relating to C. A. C, State: Storrs Bakewell, Robert, 3 Agricultural School, 23; Storrs land, Barett, C. T., 140 33-34; Land Grant Act, 58-59; Agri- Barstow, J. P., 37 cultural College Fund, 62; Storrs Bartram, John, 212 Agricultural College, 69, 77, 78; Baseball, 85, 173 Scholarships, 157; Smith-Hughes Act, Basketball, 197 167; teachers' retirement, 172, 201; Beach, C. L., 90, 131, 132-98, 223, 224 enrollment, 195, 201; Experiment Sta- Beecher, H. W., 27, 48 tion, 211, 217-18; Purnell Act, 195. Bergen County experimental nurseries, Federal, 16, 17; see also separate acts. 213 Adams Act, 17, 225 Bigelow, H. B., 37 Admission requirements, 38, 141, 196 Bingham, Hiram, 193, 195 Agricultural Club, 148 Bishop, Helen, 162 Blakeslee, Agricultural College of Pennsylvania, 8 A. F., 226 Board of Agriculture, 18, 22, 23, 28, 44, Agricultural College Fund, 54, 62, 63, 66 45, 49, 175, 214, 216, 221, 247 Board of Control, 180 Agricultural, early development, 2-8, 18- 170, 22, 212-14 Board of Education, 60, 154, 247 Board of Finance, Agricultural Hall, see Dairy Building 170, 178, 179, 182, 184-85 Agricultural School Commission of 1885, Board of Finance and Control, 206 52-55, 63 Board of Visitors, 60, 62, 72, 73-74; Agricultural Seminary, Derby, 19 Report of, 73, 74, 75 Agricultural societies, 3-4, 6, 11, 18, 22, Bourn, G. W., Jr., 160 40, 62, 213, 214, 225, 230, 234; see Boussingault, B., 5, 213 also Grange, Farmers' J. Institutes Bowen, G. A., 23 Agriculture and C. A. C, 1-2, 39-40, 47, Boys' and Girls' Clubs, 232, 238, 239, 62, 63, 64, 98-105, 66, 81, 95, 107-10, 242, 247-50 113, 116-17, 143-44, 123, 154, 168, Boys' Working Reserve, 162 169-70, 178-82, 186-88, 191-92, 193-94, Brewer, W. H., 21, 23, 32-33, 49, 50, 61 203-04; see also Grange, Chamber of Brewster, Commerce, Land Grant Act John, 52, 53 and class- Bristol Press, 108 ical colleges, courses of study Brown, Amos, 13 Albany Argus, 19 Brown University, 57, 68 Alger, H. B., 162 Brundage, A. 236, 237, 238, 247 Ailing, M. E., 190 J., Buchanan, James, 13 Alsop, J. W., 195, 220 Buckingham, W. A, 58, 59, 60, 61 Alumni, 168, 169, 175; occupations, 92, Buel, Jesse, 19, 25 95, 154; prizes, 123-24; trustees, 130 American Lyceum, 20 Buildings, 29-32, 55, 90, 118, 120, 131, American Council on Education, 207 134-40, 176, 177, 182, 184-85, 189, 192, Amory, C. B., 159 194, 196, 209, 218, 228 Burglary, 126-27 Andrews, B. F., 62 Anniversary, 35th, 153-54; 50th, 209 Business Course, 115 Bussey, Benjamin, 6 Appropriations, State, capital, 55, 70, 80- 81, 98, 106-07, 118, 119, 120, 133- 40, 151-52, 157, 167, 170-71, 177, 188- Campbell, G. H., 162, 238 89, 194, 196, 200-01, 228; mainte- Campus, 150, 159, 165, 166, 170, 172, nance, 34, 49, 75, 130, 170, 182, 189, 174, 180, 198, 200, 207 192, 194, 201, 216, 239; special, 206, Capen, S. P., 202 215, 222; requests and recommenda- Capper-Ketcham Act, 250 tions, 178, 185, 208-09; college deficit, Carillon, 209 44, 180; Federal, see Acts, Federal Cary, F. G., 7, 13 Appropriations committee, 180, 185-86 Catalog, 38, 163, 179, 180, 234, 236 Armsby, H. P., 38, 44, 45, 46, 216 Chamber of 191- Athletics, 83-86, 124-25, 137, 149-50, Commerce, 175, 185-89, 154, 165, 173, 174, 197 92, 193, 194 Atkinson, Prof., 68 Chamberlain, L. P., 28, 50, 128 Atwater Laboratory, 228 Charles Lewis Beach Building, 138-39, Atwater, W. O., 22, 40, 116, 214, 215, 184, 187, 196 218, 219, 221, 222, 223, 224, 226 Chemistry Laboratory, 55, 155-56, 167, Avery, B. T., 160 170, 174 INDEX 255

Chittenden, R. H., History of Sheffield Denison, Lindsay, 100 Scientific School, 64 Dining Hall, 133, 135, 136, 151, 165, 170, 173, 183 Churchill, J. M., 146 Diplomas, 142 Clark, G. M., 52, 53 Dormitories, 55, 117, 134, 135-36, 177, Claxton, P. P., 15 178, 182, 184, 187, 194, 195 Clinton, H. L., 160 Dow, Gardner, 174; athletic field, 174, Clinton, L. A., 224, 225, 226 197 Clubs, 86-88, 148, 208 Dramatics, 126, 148, 149, 197, 200 194 Coal trestle, 134, Dunham, A. C, farm, 153; carillon, 209 79-81, 166, 186-87, Co-education, 55, 71, Dunn, L. C„ 227 188, 197 Dwight, Timothy, 21, 72 Coit, Mrs. R. H., 44 College), 6 Columbia University (King's Eaton, Amos, 7, 231 Commencement, 1884, 48; 1931, 209 Economic Digest, 241 Commission, on Storrs Gift, 23; of 1884, Eddy, J. C, 223 50-51; of 1885, 52-54; on Land Grant Eliot, jared, 3, 18 Act, 58-59; on water supply, 194-95 Ellis, B. W., 239 Community House, 189-90 Ellsworth, H. L., 19 Conn, H. W., 219, 223, 224 Esten, W. M., 223 Connecticut Agricultural College Re- Examinations, for entrance, 104; for view, 237 degree, 208 Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Sta- Expenses, student, 38, 55, 91, 114, 145 tion, 22, 56, 64, 66, 184, 195, 212, 216, Experiment Station Office, 196, 218 217, 218, 220, 226 Extension Service, 161, 170, 178, 181, Connecticut Agricultural Society, 214, 182, 185, 186, 189, 202, 225, 230-51; 216 Biennial Report, 236, 237; News, 237; Connecticut Day, 197 Agriculture, 240-44; Home Demon- 244-46; Boys' and Girls' Connecticut Editorial Association, 157, stration, Clubs, 247-50 175, 183-84 Connecticut Farmer, 144 Faculty, 38, 111, 115, 162; salaries, 146- Connecticut Federation of Churches, 47, 176; retirement policy, 172, 201; 189, 190 titles and tenures, 146-47, 201; in war Associa- Connecticut Milk Producers' service, 162 tion, 240 Faculty cottages, 90, 135, 136, 151, 167, Connecticut Policy Conference, 241 170, 194; apartment house, 209 Connecticut Pomological Society, 101, Farm Bureau News, 237 113, 235 Farm Bureaus, 175, 181, 239, 247 Connecticut R. O. P. Poultry Breeders' Farmers' College, 7, 13 Association, 240 Farmers' Convention, 1880, 23 Connecticut State Agricultural Society, Farmers' High School (Pennsylvania 18, 214 State College), 8 Cooperative associations, 241 Farmers' Institutes, 225, 231, 234, 250 Cooperative demonstration, 232, 235 Farmers' Week (Farm and Home Week), Country Gentleman, 19, 214 190, 241, 246, 250 County agents, 232, 236, 239; club Farmington Valley Herald and Journal, agents, 248, 250 106, 109 Courses of study, 39-40, 46, 78-79, 110, Fellenberg Plan, 4, 42 114, 116-17, 141-44, 154, 163-64, 168; Fire Protection System, 194 in Yale under Land Grant Act, 61-62 Flint, G. W., 97-110, 111, 128 Crane Farm, 81 Food conservation, 158, 161-62, 166, 244-45 Cream Hill Agricultural School, 20-21, 238, Football, 85, 86, 125, 197 25, 30, 33, 35, 42 Foreign Mission School, 20 Crevecouer, St. John de, 212 Four-H Clubs, 249 Cultivator, 19 Franklin, Benjamin, 3, 6 Dairy barn, 136, 137, 173, 174 Franklin Institute of Philadelphia, 222 Dairy Building, 98, 136, 137 Fraternities, 86-88 Daniels, H. O., 236 Frink, Esther, 247 Dartmouth College, 57 Davis, I. G., 236, 237, 238 Gardiner Lyceum, 5, 19 Dawson, Marshall, 174, 189 Gardner Dow Field, 197 Deed, to Soldiers' Orphans' Home, 31- Gentry, C. B., 90, 199-201 32; to Storrs Agricultural School, 35- Georgetown (Gilbert Farm), 120-21 36, 37, 49; second, 51, 52; third, 53, Gibson, H. B., 219 55 Gifts, 23, 37, 45, 48-49, 53, 55, 120-21, Degrees, 78, 142-43; for service in arms, 123-24, 152-53, 209, 220 159; examinations for, 208 Gilbert Farm, 120-21, 152-53 Democracy in education, 1-2, 7-8, 9, 14- Gilbert, J. H., 6, 213 15, 17, 68, 145, 203 Glee clubs, 148, 208 256 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

Goddard, Horatio, 44 Koons Hall, 134, 135, 136, 137 Gold, C. L., 21 Kuelling, J. A., 162 Gold, S. W., 20 Gold, T. S., 19, 20, 28, 30, 31, 33, 37, Lake, E. J., 180 42, 43, 80, 90, 95, 198, 218, 220, 233 Lamson, G. H., 172, 227 Gold Hall, 55, 90, 134, 138, 155, 174 Land, acquisition of, 23, 35-36, 37, 81, Grange, 56-57, 64-69, 99, 102-03, 117-18, 139-40, 167, 171, 242, 252-53 175, 181, 217, 225, 234 Land Army Unit, 166 Great Swamp, 37 Land Grant Act, 9-15, 21, 25, 56-57, 58- Greeley, Horace, 8, 13, 25, 32 59, 69, 158, 167, 230; and classical Green Farm, 139 colleges, 56-57, 64, 67-68; interpreta- Grove Cottage, 81, 173-74 tion in Connecticut, 18, 132, 143-44; Gulley, A. G., 140, 155, 224 see Agriculture and C. A. C. Gulley Hall, see Horticultural Building Land grant college of Connecticut, Yale, 21, 58-61, 71-72; see Yale-Storrs Con- Hale, H., 64-65, 70 J. troversy; Storrs Agricultural College, Hall, 179 W. H., 135, 69 Hartford Courant, 42, 43, 70, 89, 100, Landscape architect, 140 102, 104, 113, 123, 124, 129, 131, 138, Lavoisier, A. L., 5, 212 156, 159, 179, 180, 188, 204 Lawes, B., 6, 213, 214 Hartford Times, 102, 103, 107, 127, 155, J. Library, travelling, 234 203 48, 133, 134; Liebig, Justin, 6, 213, 214 Hartlib, Samuel, 3 Lights, 123, 136, 151-52 Hatch Act, 16, 55, 63, 64, 66, 67, 167, Lincoln, Abraham, 14, 58 217, 220, 222, 230 Lincoln, A. B., 181 Hawley Armory, 94, 137, 149, 154 Lincoln, M. D., 236 Hawley, W. N., 93, 94 Location of institution, 28, 49-54, 119 20 Hicks prizes, 123 Lookout, 42, 81, 82, 84, 85, 86, 87, 89, High School Day, 156-57, 172-73 93, 119, 120, 122-23, 124, 126, 128, Holbrook, Josiah, 19, 20 135, 144, 147, 149, 150, 151 Holcomb Hall, see Woman's Building Loomis, Dwight, 76 Hollister, S. P., 138, 243 Lowrie, C. N., 140 Holloway, L. C, 24, 25-26 Lyon, F. 160 Holt, Hamilton, 177-78, 182 G., Home Egg Laying Contest, 240 Home Makers' Week, 246 Madison, James, 3, 8 Home study courses, 233, 234 Main Building, 55, 133, 137, 155-56, Honorary Recognition, 190 165, 174, 196 Hopson, G. A., 224 Manchester, H. G., 202 Horse barn, 136 Manchester Herald, 108 Horticultural Building, 119, 134, 135 Mansfield State Training School, 171 Horticultural Storage Building, 189 Manual labor, 38, 41-42, 83-86, 90, 94 Howe, Arthur, 162 Manual labor schools, 4-5 Agricultural College, 8 Hubbard, J. M., 37, 218, 220 Maryland Mason, Edith, 246 Humphreys, David, 19 _ Hyde, E. H., 23, 26-27, 37, 46, 47 Massachusetts Agricultural College, 16, 193, 194 Illinois, resolutions of legislature, 11 Massachusetts Society for Promoting Infirmary, 167, 170, 206 Agriculture, 6 Ives, Prof., 7 McConaughy, J. L, 202 McCracken, C. C, 205-10 Jarvis, C. D., 225, 226, 235, 236 McDonald, B. A., 237 Jefferson, Thomas, 3 Mead, Cornelius, 52-53 Jenkins, E. H., 21, 38, 104, 114, 190, Mead, Solomon, 38, 44 216, 221, 226, 227, 228 Mechanic Arts, at Sheffield Scientific Johnson, C. A., 160 School, 59; at C. A. C, 81-83, 154, Johnson, S. W., 21, 22, 37. 38, 46, 47, 187 213, 214, 215, 216, 220, 226 Arts Building, 135 Commission of General Assembly, Mechanic Joint Michaux, Andre, 212 1884, 50-51; 1885, 74 Michigan Agricultural College, 8 Jones, R. E., 236 218 Judd, Orange, 215 Miles, H. C, 52, 53, Science, 137, 145-46, 158, 162- Junior Food Army, 238, 248 Military Junior Short Course, 249 65, 168 Miller, F. P., 162 Keyes, H. F., 236 Monteith, H. R., 101, 150 Kirkpatrick, W. F., 226, 238 Morrill Act (Second; for first see Land Knapp, Seaman A., 230. 231, 232 Grant Act), 17, 56, 67, 68. 69, 72, 79, Knowlton, A. B., 236, 244 80, 145 Koons, B. F., 40, 44, 80, 97, 100, 128- Morrill, J. S., 10, 12, 14-15, 145 29, 135, 220, 233 Morse, H. T., 101 INDEX 257

Munroe, H. D., 162 Robinson, H. C, 75-76 Music, 148, 208 Rogers, Elijah, 190 Musser, K. B., 236 Rosa, E. B., 222 Rosebrooks Farm, 139, 167 Name of institution, 94, 96, 169, 199- Rothamsted, 214 200, 208 Show, 248 National Dairy Sanger, M. H., 73, 77 Grange Monthly, 182 National Saville, C. M., 195 university, 8-9 National Scholarships, State, at Yale, 60-61, 62, "Needs of the College," 133, 185 64, 72, 74; at C. A. C, 157 Nelson Act, 17 School of Agriculture, 141-43, 178-79, New Britain Herald, 109 New England Association of Colleges 187 and Secondary Schools, 207 School of Applied Chemistry (Sheffield), New England Homestead, 101, 224 59 New England Milk Producers' Associa- School of Home Economics, 141-43, 166 tion, 240 "School of Journalism," 180 New Hartford Tribune, 108 School of Mechanical Engineering, 141- New Haven Horticultural Society, 22 43 New Haven Register, 120, 180 Seckerson, H. A., 197 New York Herald, 95 Second Morrill Act, see Morrill Act New York Society for the Promotion of Sewage disposal, 119, 120, 137 Agriculture, Arts and Manufactures, 6 Sheep, 171, 223, 242 New York Sun, 80, 100 Sheffield, J. R., 59 Noble, J, B., 20 Sheffield Scientific School, 21, 54, 58-77, Normal training school, 154 181, 213, 214, 216 Norton, J. P., 21, 38, 59, 214 Shipman, Nathaniel, 73, 75 Norwich Bulletin, 136 Short Courses, 114, 115, 142, 187, 234 Nutmeg, 150-51 Sidney Daily Telegraph, 225 Silliman, Benjamin, Sr., 6, 7, 19, 21, 38, 44 Olcott, J. B., 23, 37, 43, 214 Older Club Members' Conference, 249 Silliman, Benjamin, Jr., 21, 38, 59, 214 64, 68, 73, Palissy, Bernard, 5 Simonds, W. E., 52, 54, 63, 105-07, 110, 111, 128, 198 Palmer, G. S., 119, 134, 139, 153 75, 97, 99, Partridge, Alden, 9 Sinclair, John, 3 Patterson, B. C, 102, 103 Slate, W. L., 227, 228 Patterson, H. S., 98 Smith, E. O., 131, 132 Peebles, A. B., 26-27, 90, 101, 233 Smith, G. C, 238 Pennsylvania State College, 8, 38 Smith, William, 6 People's College, 7, 13, 25 Smith-Hughes Act, 17, 167, 199 Pestalozzi, J. H., 4 Smith-Lever Act, 17, 167, 230, 232, 235, Phelps, Charles, 52, 101, 218, 219, 223 245 Phelps House, 139 Snow Farm, 139 Philadelphia North American, 225, 226 Society for Promoting Agriculture in Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agri- the State of Connecticut, 18 culture, 3-4 Soldiers' Orphans' Home, 31-32 Physical Education, department, 154 Spanish American War, 93-94 Physician, college, 206 Sprague, M. E., 236, 237, 238, 244, 247 Pierpont, A. J., 153 Stafford Press, 113 Pilgrimage, 175-76, 178 Stallings, W. C, 232 214 Porter, J. A., 21, 38, State Agricultural Society, 214, 216 Poultry Building, 134, 135, 136, 137-38, State Council of Defense, 156, 161, 167, 170 238, 245 Price, H. B., 162 "State university," 78, 95, 109, 130, 168, Priestley, Joseph, 5 196 Prince, N. D., 195 182, 193, Stearns 54 Proudman, E. D., 127 Farm, 53, B., 160 Purnell Act, 17, 195, 227-28 Stephenson, A. Stimson, R. W., 105, 111-131, 132, 224 Radio Broadcasting, 251 Storrs Agricultural College, established, Recognition of college, 207-08 69 Rennselaer Institute, 7 Storrs Agricultural Experiment Station, Reserve Officers' Training Corps, 159, 55, 66, 116, 134, 167, 170, 178, 182, 168 185, 186, 189, 195, 202, 211-29, 234, Rettger, L. F., 225, 227 235; reports of, 216, 218, 220, 224, Rhode Island College of Agriculture and 225, 227; Executive Committee, 220; Mechanic Arts, 68 Station Council, 224; Office, 196 Roads and transportation, 122-23, 135, Storrs Agricultural School, 22, 23-57, 151-52, 155, 172, 174, 207 217, 218 258 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

Storrs Agricultural School Experiment Valentine Farm, 119, 120, 134, 139 230 . Station, 222 Van Rennselaer, Stephen, 7, Storrs, Augustus, 23, 24, 26-29, 32, 51, Vinton, S. O., 37 52, 53, 55, 119, 171 Storrs, Charles, 23, 24-26, 30, 48 Wade, Senator, 13 Storrs Church, 29, 129, 174, 189 Wallace, A. M., 162 Storrs Hall, 118, 134 War Gardens, 161 Storrs International Egg Laying Con- "War of the Rebellion," 97-110, 113, 130, 178 test, 225 Storrs, L. 153 Washington, George, 3, 8 J., Water supply, 55, 134, 137, 138, 171, Storrs milk pail, 223 194-95 Storrs, R. A., 160 Welch family, 129 Student activities, 89, 124, 147-51, 159, Wesleyan University, 22, 110, 116, 182, 197-98 196, 198, 211, 214, 215, 216, 218, 219- enrollment, 113, Student 41, 55, 114, 20, 221, 222, 223, 224, 226 115, 131, 143, 144-45, 178-79, 130, 173, Wheeler, C. A., 28, 104, 114 182, 184, 195-96, 201, 207, 249 White, G. C, 227 162-65 Students' Army Training Corps, Whitney, Edwin, 30, 31 Summer School, 112, 114, 154 Whitney, Edwina, 31 Whitney Hall, 29-32, 90, 133 Teacher Training, 167, 187 Whitney, M. B., 32 Ten-Year Program, 184-85, 188 Wilder, M. P., 11 Thorn, Charles, 225 Willimantic Chronicle, 113, 126 Ticknor Farm, 53 Willimantic Farmers' Club, 40 Torrey, G. S., 162 Willimantic Journal, 108 Track athletics, 85, 197 Wilson, Woodrow, 232 Trinity (Washington) College, 6, 110, Windham County Memorial Hospital, 182, 196 206 True, A. C, History of Agricultural Woman's Building, 170, 173-74, 176-77, Education in the United States, 5, 10 182, 185, 209 Trumbull, J. H., 195, 202 Woods, C. D., 219, 220, 221, 222 Trustees' report, 41, 44, 48, 55, 139, 154, Woolsey, T. D., 60-61 161, 171, 180, 185, 189, 233, 235; Works, G. A., 147, 201-04, 205 Board of Trustees, 37-38, 50 World War, 156, 157, 158-68; students Tull, Jethro, 3 in service, 159; died in service, 160; Turner, J. B., 11, 13 faculty in service, 162; Extension Ser- Two-Year Course, see School of Agri- vice, 237-38, 244-45 culture Yale Scientific School, see Sheffield United States Agricultural Society, 11 Yale-Storrs Controversy, 52, 54, 56-57, United States Department of Agricul- 58-77, 99, 110, 178, 217, 220 ture, 221, 222, 235, 247 Yale University, 18, 21-22, 38, 60-61, United States Department of Labor, 71-72, 182, 196, 211, 214, 217, 225; 221, 222 see also Sheffield Scientific School and University extension plan, 231, 233 Yale-Storrs Controversy University of Illinois, 231 Young, Arthur, 3 University of Pennsylvania, 6 Young Farmers' Clubs, 241

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